The Fire Sage
by Forsaken and Darklost
Summary: Hinata runs away from her father after failing another sparring session. She's hurt and scared until a mysterious creatures comes to her aid and she disappears. But then she returns and stronger than anyone ever imagined, this is the legacy of a new Sage of Konoha...the Fire Sage. Pairings HinaNaru. Heavy violence, language, and adult content, so be warned before reading.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any material retaining to it. I only take claim to the plot of this story, and only that.

**A/N: **This is a joint fanfiction that got put on the backburner, until now. Darklost and I aren't going to say much until everyone has read this first chapter, so we look forward to hearing your comments and thoughts on this fanfiction, so if you have any questions, please let me know and they will be answered in the next update, but please read the chapter more closely before jumping to any assumptions, thank you. Till then...

**xXx**

**Chapter 1**

All she could hear was the pounding of her heart as the blood rushed through her ears. Her adrenaline was pumping like crazy from her fear. She had no idea where she was. Her panicked, young mind could only register that she was in the forest and what would look good for hiding. She kept trying to blink the stream of blood that was leaking down the side of her face, trickling down the corner of her right eye and staining down the front of her white kimono. The wound on her head looked worse than it really was, but it still throbbed painfully against her skull. But that was the least of her worries. The cause of her injury, and others that were hidden underneath her kimono was steadily catching up with her, taking his time. It was meant to insult her.

He was purposely making her run herself close to death and appear that he could catch her at any time. She knew very well he could. He was much older than her and he was her own father.

She had failed her training session with her father: again. Normally, after she failed a training session, she would just get a few light bruises, maybe one major bruise as a reminder to do better next time. This time, though, she had performed miserably in front of the elders. When it was over and they left with a dismissive look at her, her father struck her over the head, even after he had stated the spar was over. She knew she really messed up this time, just from the strength behind the blow made her realize the anger her father had over her failure. He never struck her so viciously like that before, and he never explained why. He just silent seethed at her with cold, angry eyes, none of it showing on his stoic face, but his eyes could not hold back the disappointment and frustration he had for her.

It was when he moved to strike her again that she ran.

No one in the compound moved to help her. None dared. He was the head of her clan, and if he chose to punish whoever he deemed deserve it, no help would come, because then they would receive the same punishment for interference. So she ran as fast as she could out of the compound, hoping to find someone that might save her: again, she was proven wrong.

It late in the evening, so almost everyone was heading for their homes or already there. Then she thought maybe a squad of those masked-men called Anbu would show up and calm her father down. She saw no sign of them as she ran probably through the entire village, but then she sensed her father quickly approaching behind her. In pure fright, she darted in one direction, not caring where she was going, just so long as it was away from him. Now she was in a forest she did not recognized, feeling her already tired body giving out on her. She had to find a place to hide, and she needed to do it soon.

Her clan had a very precious gift, a Kekkei-Genkai; in particular, a dojutsu called "Byakugan". It allowed her clan to see every direction at once, and it allowed them so see passed solid objects, and even stretch out to see far distances when needed, and it can see the chakra coils of every living being. It was one of the greatest dojutsu in all the world and horded feverishly by her clan to keep its power to only them.

But what many did not know was that there was one weakness to their all-seeing eye…it couldn't see exactly every direction. There was one blind spot, right behind the neck. This was the spot she had tried to keep herself in to stay hidden from her father, but in order to make sure she could, she had to keep her Byakugan activated so she could see where he was so she could position herself correctly. If she could just wait him out until he gave up chasing her, calm down for whatever reason he was so angry with her, maybe then it would be safe to go back home and receive one of his stern lectures, maybe just get slapped again, but it would be far better than what he may be planning to do to her right now.

She prayed he would leave soon. There was another weakness the Byakugan had.

It put a great strain on the user's eyes if used for too long, but it varied from person to person. She was one of the few that actually could use her Kekkei-Genkai for a long time, but she had been using it through her spar with her father and since she had been running, and she was just now starting to feel the effect. If he did not leave then it would become harder and harder for her to discern his chakra and soon would not be able to see stay in his blind spot. Another issue she had to worry about was her chakra. It was rapidly fleeting her, and keeping her dojutsu activated was just burning it away even faster, and when it was out, she would pass out from chakra exhaustion and then it wouldn't matter if she could run and hide. She'd give out and her father could just carry her back to the compound, then she'd receive more punishment once she recovered to know it was happening to her.

A part of her knew she was only making it worse on herself. Whatever she did since the moment she was born was always wrong in the eyes of her father, and it only resulted in some kind of reprimand that ended with her in pain; either a bruise or a scar on her shattered, fragile heart. She knew she was weak. It wasn't in her to cause harm to any of her family, but yet, they demanded every day that she needed to be strong. Strong for what? To lead a family so full of bitterness that only hurt their own blood? She wanted none of that! She wanted to be happy, and her family to be happy, but all they seemed to only care about who they saw as weak with their dojutsu and who was strong; and keeping to their traditions.

Those traditions were what were causing all this pain and anger; they ran all the way back to when her clan was first born. They only cared about keeping their power safe from outsiders, from themselves. This paranoia caused the clan itself to split themselves in half. Her side, the Main caste were the leaders, the 'royal' members. The others on the Branch caste: were slaves. Their enslavement to the Main was branded on them with a seal, one that allowed the Main to control their fate and to keep anyone from learning the secrets of the Byakugan, even after death. This seal also allowed the Main caste to inflict massive amounts of pain on any Branch member by frying out their own brain, and if they choice, kill them. In cruelty to the Branch members, this seal was called the "Caged-Bird" seal, or so she secretly believed.

She was too young to learn how to use the seal to harm anyone from the Branch, and she never wanted to learn it. She would refuse to cause that kind of pain just because they were labeled inferior by petty standards. It was not right. That was why she was so hesitant. She was too soft-hearted and that was seen as weakness, but she could not lie to herself.

From how her father looked at her, though, she feared that she wouldn't have to worry about using the seal…it would be branded on her, whether she was the daughter of the clan leader of the Hyuga Clan. It was just a matter of staying that fate as long as her flickering chakra reserves could last, and it was only a matter of moments before they ran out.

What she did not realize was that she was being watched.

A curious creature not very foreign in this forest, what many of the humans from the nearby village called "The Forest of Death", was watching from high above her. The creature was a rare sight to mortals and was nearly believed to only exist in the realm of fantasy. Her kind were secretive only when because they had no reason to interact with humans. They had seen what they could do, using their own chakra to wage war upon themselves and causing only needless death.

Although, her kind couldn't really say they were any better than the humans. They were feared for their power and the destruction they could create. Many believed they were demons and monsters because of their fierce nature. Some parts of the world thought they were wild spirits and if captured would grant whoever caught them their deepest desires. That might be partly why they chose to remain apart from humans. It seemed foolish to the creature that these humans could believe all their wishes could just be given to them simply by catching one of her kind. She often pondered about the humans, having watched them as they used these woods for their trails and training. She admired that they could tap into their own inner power and was amazed at what they could do with their chakra. It was why she liked to linger near them, to see what else they might come up with, but she still could not understand them at times. This one being that time as she watched the human male, who seemed to be boiling with rage as he sought the cowering human child.

Why did this man want to hurt a child? As far as she could tell from their scent, they were from the same brood, they were blood, and yet this child was running for her life from him and she could sense his aggressive intent. What could this timid child have done to cause such anger from her own brood? She seemed too innocent, even by human standards, to have done something bad. Then again, to her all humans were alike and all acted in similar ways, but this child was really frightened, as if…

She widened her eyes as realization dawned on her.

From her spot above, her swept back mane of red hair flickered with sparks. She watched on, making a decision right then and there should what she feared come to pass.

The human male finally seemed to locate her, if the motion of his head whipping right in the same direction the girl was cowering was any indicator, and then dashed with the speed only achieved by humans after years of training. He appeared right over her in moments and towered there, looking down. She could not make out his face as she was looking directly at the top of his head, but from the expression on the child's, she was sure it was not at all pleasant.

Then the human male spoke: "This is for the betterment of the clan…you will learn…or you will perish."

He bent his arm back and chakra began to form around his opened palm, and that was all she needed to see. With a speed the same as a lightning strike, she was right beside the child and wrapped her arms around her. As she stood up, her body lit aflame, her mane becoming a wild torch of fire and her skin glowed as brightly as heated coal, but the child did not suffer from the fire. The human male on the other hand was almost thrown back from the burst of heat that slammed into him. She bore hate filled eyes, blazing like two miniature suns, and pulled back her lips in a snarl.

"Wrecked human," she spat, smoke spewing in great puffs from between her teeth, the corners of her mouth leaking out more flames.

"W-What are you!? Let go of my daughter this instant!" the human demanded, sounding as if he expected to be obeyed.

His tone only caused more fire to whip out from her body; another wave of heat shot out from her and knocked the pitiful human off his feet.

"_**BE SILENT!**_" She roared, then upon realizing she probably was scaring the trembling girl in her arms, she reined back her rage.

Her thunderous voice did however make the human freeze as he tried to get back to his feet.

"You call this little one your own? And yet, you would strike her in cold rage?" she continued, steeping toward him. Where her bare feet touched the ground, it was scorched, leaving a trail of little flames behind her. "You believe you have the right to hurt a child in anger? This cannot stand." She then began to glow. "You will learn what real anger is, human…One day you will understand the repercussions of your misguided hate."

Her body burst into flames as her arms hugged the child close to her and a hand was placed over her eyes to shield them from the brightness, and then they both disappeared. The human was left flabbergasted to what he just witnessed and remained where he was for some time, until he finally realized…some creature just abducted his daughter.

**xXx**

Somewhere in the realm that the mortals have labeled the 'Summoning World', a spiral of fire rose up on a tropical-like island with a massive volcanic terrain at its center. At the foot of a temple, the flaming woman began her ascent up a flight of stoned steps, whispering soft, warm words to the crying, frighten human child she had saved. When she reached the top of the steps, a brilliant temple stood before them, all around it were columns as high as the trees from the forest she had just departed from, pouring down from their top flowed lava down into artificial cervices that channeled the lava around the temple. Smaller ones lined up to the entrance with powerful flames waving lazily on top. All around the temple sat more woman-like creatures, all of them lounging happily in the heat of the sun and chatting amongst themselves.

At the entrance stood a very tall, massively built male. He towered over all, even the other males of her kind, and he watched her approach him with his thick muscular arms crossed over his chest. His head was crowned with a living fire, crested by a pair of huge red-curved horns, curling out over his wide shoulders and spiraling up some to pointed tips. This solid, square jaw was shifted to the side as he frowned past long, curved tusks. He was bare-chested and yet he had armored stubs seemingly integrated into his skin, like piercings almost, but was really a carapace-like shell made of the same material as his horns. Two of them stuck out of his shoulders like short spikes, another covered his collarbone and ran down the middle of his wide chest. On his forearms and outer-thighs burned more open flames up on his head, and his legs were double-jointed past his knees and in place of feet, he had black hoofs. The only garment on his body was a red loincloth that covered his modesty and black, stubbed bracelets around his wrists and over his upper thighs.

By definition, he was a warrior class, one of their strongest, and as it happened to be, her little brother.

"Kikyo, why do you have a human child with you?" He spoke with a harsh, growling tone. He did not mean to be so fierce with his words, it was just how he always sounded and being so powerful, it wasn't uncommon that his voice was so rough.

"I found her being attacked by her own kin in the Forest of Death, Yajuu," Kikyo replied, noticing she was quickly gaining the attention of the others, but ignored them as she continued right up to her brother, then whispered down to the child. "Shh, he's not that bad, really. He just looks scary. He's really a kitty at heart."

The warrior frowned even more at her. "I heard that, nee-chan."

She just smiled up at him without a care. "I need to see the Old One."

He looked as if he might raise an issue, but then shook his horned head and stepped aside. "You're in luck. He just finished his trek from the volcano."

"And is he in one of his moods?" she asked cautiously, coming to a halt and peered over her shoulder.

"…No, that's the odd thing," Yajuu said, his frown somehow deepening. "When he returned…he seemed calm."

"C-Calm?" Kikyo uttered.

He nodded, flickers of flame sparking out from his flaming mane. "Indeed, I know not why, but he has not had one of his rants since he returned. Be wary of what you do next, nee-chan, it is rare when he is like this and this will make his behavior very unpredictable."

This left her perplexed for a moment. The Old One was always known for his tantrums and hot-temper. Since the first of their kind had made this island their home, he was the first to step on this land and constructed a home for their kind, away from the other creatures and animals that would consort to being called upon to war for humans. He did not wish for his people to be used for needless fighting and see them die, seeing all humans as vile, greedy things. Most of his infamous rants were based mostly on his own experiences with humans, but whenever he mentioned these moments, he'd begin to thrash and it wasn't very safe to be around him. It was up to Yajuu to keep the old one from getting too out of hand, and when times came where even his great strength could not hold back the Old One, it was time for him to make his way up to the great volcano, where his tantrums would be harmless to all.

When he finally tired, he would make his own way back down from the volcano and mediate in the lava pools…until he was irked again by his old memories, and even then, he was always in the best of terms they used…'cranky'.

Steeling herself for what may happen; Kikyo ventured into the temple with the child and hoped that things worked out. The interior was wide and spacious. Bluish-white marble pillars stood erect over the only pathway that was not submerged in lava, the rest of the floor oozed with melted rock that made up the pools, resting in the center of the pool was the old one. He was by far a giant in size, with a face like a lion with a fiery mane like one, and curved dark-bluish horns that crested his entire forehead, with another set curving around his long face. Like all the other males, he had spikes on his shoulder, but his was tall and curved back. His frame was hunched over, the only sign of his age, but with his feral appearance, it seemed only fitting. Folded over his crossed legs were extremely long, bluish talons that made up his fingers, and like all males, he wore metal bracelets around his wrists and his thighs, but he also wore a beaded necklace with claws decorated into it.

As she neared him, she began to worry that she may have made a great mistake. It was easy to deal with the Old One in his normal temper, but this serene giant she was walking toward seemed very foreign to her. He appeared to be at ease for the first time since she has known him, and like her brother said, he looked…calm.

She thought it would be better to come back another time, but as she started to retreat, the Old One opened his eyes, boring two molten glowing orbs of orange directly at her. He raised one talon and waved at her to approach him. "You have a human with you…"

"Y-Yes, Old One," Kikyo murmured, slowly approaching him. "I…I know you do not like humans, but please hear me out!"

He silenced her with a growl. "Before my last journey to the molten depths of the volcano…I would not!" His aged voice rumbled like the earth when it was angry. "I would not stand to have their kind step foot in our sanctuary…but that was before."

"…And now?" she asked curiously.

"Bring her forward, let me see the human and then I shall speak more," he ordered her with an edge in his voice that left no discussion.

Fearing she may have doomed the child to a worse fate, with trepidation, she stepped toward him, hugging the human child close to her.

Once she was at the end of the pathway, the Old one stand up, shaking his head to shake off any droplets of lava on him, as a cat shaking its fur loose after being woken. He leaned forward and gazed down at the frightened human, sniffing deeply at her, and then settled back down into the pool. "Hmm, so small…I've forgotten how small they can be."

"Yes, they can be," she agreed, still unsure how his behavior.

He grunted some. "For many ages I have voiced my opinions of these humans…but my reasons were always justified."

"…Y-You've never spoke of them before," Kikyo said.

He nodded. "Because I did not wish to hear them with my own voice. The mere memories alone would send my blood boiling beyond control…but things are different." He raised a talon and stroked the top of the child's head with amazing tenderness for a creature of his size. "Once…before we came to this island…I was called to their world to fight."

"You had a human summoner?!" Kikyo said in amazement.

He grunted in reply. "It was so. I had a contract with humans that would allow them to use my strength and flames to fight when their own was not enough! I fought and fought…always fought, but no matter how many victories I brought my summoner and those that followed after them…their thirst could not be quenched. Their desire for power burned hotter than any flames we could conjure! But being young, I continued to answer the call…my code demanded I answer until my last summoner perished, when I could no longer withstand their endless bloodlust, I denied the next human that tried to be my summoner and fled. It was then that I found our kin and brought them here to this island…away from the humans. I could not allow any of our brethren to be used as tools of war for them…"

"Old One…why after all this time do you speak of your past?" Kikyo asked, odd at herself to have found the courage to speak.

"Because I had a vision," he stated, pointing down at the child. "I saw a human woman standing amongst us that would be like us, but not. She would aid another human, one that will put an end to the cycle of hate that has plagued mankind since its birth…and we could live among them once again."

"This child?" Kikyo spoke in awe.

"The very fact that you have brought her here, even knowing my distaste for humanity, proves that my vision will come to pass," the Old One stated with a nod. "I cannot hold a blind eye anymore to the world. The Ifrit clan must do what we must to see that the prophecy is fulfilled." He gazed down at the girl and once more stroked her tiny head. "I smell much fear in you…and I sense a anger buried deep inside you, an anger you have put apart from yourself…hmm, yes." He scratched his fiery chin in thought. "You are the one…you shall live among us, be trained by us…and one day lead us back to the world I forced the Ifrits to hide from."

It seemed all too much for the child to take in at once. Her injuries and her exhaustion, with the added overwhelming Old One's word, she fainted.

"Hmm…I see we have a lot of work cut out with this one," The Old One murmured.

Kikyo sighed and stroked the child's cheek. "Indeed we do." She then smiled down at her, glad that everything did indeed work out as she had hoped. "May I be the one that trains her, Old One?"

"If that is your desire, then yes, young Kikyo. You will be her teacher and show her how to use the inner flame. Yes…" He once again stroked his chin, gazing down at the unconscious girl with determined eyes. "If she proves herself worthy…I may once again allow a human…to be my summoner."

**xXx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any material retaining to it. I only take claim to the plot of this story, and only that.

**A/N: **Wow, it's awesome to see this fanfiction have taken off so well. Thank you for your thoughts and corrections, for the few that them out, they'll be corrected shortly. As to one question that was asked. Hinata was around the age before she joined the Academy and since the canon never is very specific around anyone's age, let's just say she was around six or seven when she was saved by the Ifrits. Now then, since you all were so kind and supportive, here's the next update, so enjoy. Till then...

**xXx**

**Chapter 2**

It was getting late. A blonde woman sat at her desk signing away on the last few papers from a pile that had started out almost taller than her. She wanted to finish it before she retired to her home and settled down with a large bottle of sake. No doubt when she returned the next morning to her desk there would be another tall pile of papers waiting for her; she had no desire to leave any undone that would just add to that next pile. Her hand had just reached for the last paper when the room flared up.

Instinctively, she jumped from her desk and balled a hand into a fist when the flames that appeared died down. In the center of her office stood two women. One of them looked oddly familiar to her and the other did not look human at all. The familiar one had long lavender hair with two bangs hanging down the side of her face, the others over her face cut neatly to give her eyes plenty of view, exposing two purple eyes with a series of black rings circling around her pupil. Her clothes reminded her of her first students: a grey battle-kimono and baggy pants with a black trench coat with tribal runes stitched around the rim of her sleeves and collar, black combat-sandals and thick metal bracelets around her delicate-looking wrists. On her forehead she wore a head-plate with long horns spiraled up and over her head.

The other one made her feel very cautious. She had hardly any clothes on, only a metal bikini with an orange loincloth covering her nether-regions and a metal top to cover her impressive-sized chest and on her wrists and thighs were stubbed bracelets. Her skin was a blaze of red and her frame was thick with muscles, but she still retained a delicate feminine appearance. Where her hair should have been was a torrent of orange flames flickering behind two corkscrewed horns that grew out from her forehead, and her legs were double-jointed and ended with black hooves.

Neither of them seemed to be hostile as they didn't make any movement since they appeared, but she still remained wary all the same, silently motioning for her personal guard, members of Anbu, to be ready to attack. She tightened her fist as she appeared to relax outwardly and straightened up.

"Would you please tell me why you broke into my office, and for that matter, tell me your business in my village," she demanded coldly.

The strange-eyed girl stepped forward. "I can answer that Hokage-sama. It has been some time."

The hokage narrowed her eyes at her in wonder. "Do we know each other?"

"Not personally, no," she replied. "But you know my family…the Hyugas."

The hokage immediately rose from her desk. "Explain now."

"Let me ask you a question first. Do you know anything about the lost Hyuga heiress that went missing years ago?" the girl asked.

The hokage gave her a critical look. "…There was no report of the heiress missing. She was presumed killed after running away from her family. Stated she ran into a beast and was mauled to death to the point there was hardly anything left of her."

The girl laughed darkly. "They lied to you then."

"Oh? And how do you know this? What proof do you have against a powerful clan like the Hyugas," The hokage demanded.

The girl smiled in a way that was almost feral. Her eyes changed. The rings around her pupil disappeared along with the pupil itself and the dark color of purple lightened to a near lavender-ish white. "Because I'm a Hyuga…and because I'm that little girl."

The Hokage gasped as she stared into those white eyes, and then sat back down in her desk. To her further shock, one of her own personal Anbu appeared from behind the genjutsu he had set up to hide himself and approached the girl. His attire was standard Anbu gear but he wore an animal mask of a sparrow.

"Lady Hinata?" the sparrow Anbu gasped.

She regarded the Anbu and nodded. "I take it you're a member of the branch family?"

"Y-Yes, I am," he admitted.

"Hmm, figures. No one from the Main would talk to me with such honors," Hinata replied, then bowed to him. "But thank you for remembering me."

He bowed deeply to her. "No, it is good to see that you are alive and well, Lady Hinata."

"Get back to your post, Anbu," The hokage grunted warningly.

Quickly, he returned to his position and hid himself from view, feeling the embarrassed looks from his fellow comrades sent his way.

"Barring that little show, I will still need some more proof that you are indeed the missing heiress," the Hokage demanded. "But first, you will tell me your version of the story."

"There is only the truth," the fearsome woman next to Hinata stated.

"I will decide what the truth is, but since you've decided to talk. What are you exactly?" the Hokage said sternly.

The flaming woman smirked at her. "You've got a temper…I like that."

The Hokage could not stop the sudden blush from her comment. "J-Just get on with the explanation!"

"As you say. To make it easier for Hinata, _I_ was the 'beast' that came for Hinata," she stated plainly. "My kind is called Ifrit, and I was in the woods that night when Hinata was running away from her father."

Concern crossed over the blonde woman's face. "Your father was chasing you in the woods?"

Hinata nodded but remained silent.

"I watched him chase her down until she was exhausted, but even with the wounds that she had obtained, she managed to stay hidden for some time from him," the flaming woman continued, noting the angry look that appeared on the hokage's face and smirked more. "Yes, she was bleeding from her head when I found them, and the father was angry, very angry. When he finally did find her, he was ready to strike another vicious blow, and then I chose to intervene."

"And why did you save her?" the hokage asked curiously, turning professional on the spot.

"Because to my kind, we do not condone harming young ones, but it was more of a personal choice for me," the flaming woman admitted.

The Hokage analyzed her for a moment, and then returned her attention to Hinata. "So you were in fact saved by the acclaimed beast. If what you said is indeed true, then I can see why you would not wish to return if you were attacked by your own father. But why have you returned now?"

"Because I finished my training," Hinata stated simply.

"And what training would that be?"

"I finished my Sage-Training with the Ifrits. I now hold the title of Fire Sage given to me by the Old One of the Ifrit clan, and I felt it was time that I returned to my home of birth where I can use my skills to defend it," Hinata answered.

This froze the hokage at her desk with a disbelieving look on her face. "S-Sage? You underwent Sage-Training?"

"That is not the only thing I have accomplished. As you may have noted before," Hinata started to say as her near-white eyes shifted back to the black-rings and dark purple. "I unlocked a lost dojutsu: the Rinnegan."

If the blonde woman was blown already, she felt completely overwhelmed now. "T-The Byakugan evolves into the Rinnegan?!"

"Partly," Hinata said, waving a dismissive hand. "It seems the Byakugan is actually the first stage in the dojutsu, the next stage is the Sharingan, and then it becomes the Rinnegan. But after my training with the Ifrits, it stressed my dojutsu straight to the Rinnegan. It was a complete shock to me, but the Old One explained to me how it was possible."

"This is unbelievable…This changes everything we understood about the dojutsus," the Hokage said, sounding as flabbergasted as she appeared.

"If I remember correctly, your village takes great interest in Kekkei-Genkai, and seeing as no one else possesses the Rinnegan, even if you do not believe she is the lost heiress. Her title as our Sage and owning the Rinnegan should give her enough to be accepted into your village," the flaming woman stated, folding her arms under her impressive chest.

"No," the Hokage stated bluntly. "I believe she is who she states she is. She may return to her clan and…"

"I refuse," Hinata cut her off.

"W-What?" the Hokage uttered in confusion.

"I refuse to return to my clan. I have returned to aid my village, but I will not fall under my clan's rule," Hinata stated harshly. "They are barbaric and cold in their set ways. They would only horde my abilities and my dojutsu as they have with the Byakugan since its creation. I will not be controlled by them, even if they are of my blood; that is one of my conditions for serving Konoha."

"You have more?" the hokage stated with a frown.

"For now, only that I am my own person and no clan or civilian can dictate my fate. I will obey only the Hokage, but only so long as you or whoever succeeds you respect my terms. If they are ever broken, I leave immediately," Hinata stated firmly.

The Hokage leaned back into her chair and went over the term silently. It was too good to be true that someone with Sage-Training _AND_ possessing a rare dojutsu to wish to join Konoha. She should be cautious or flat-out deny this girl…but she was the supposed dead heiress of the Hyuga clan. That gave her royal status in the village and the fact that her own clan presumed her dead without reporting to her real fate to the previous Hokage could be considered conspiracy and outright treason against Konoha. Then she had to consider that the girl's own father had attacked her, and that led to her left her questioning Hiashi's judgment if he would hurt his own daughter. What else was the clan hiding? That question alone made her grimace and it made her fear that the Hyugas were following the same path as the deceased Uchiha clan after their failed coup d'état.

She was the Hokage of the Leaf, but before that she had been one of the three Legendry Sannin, and she hailed from a near dead clan, the Senju. She was the best medic-nin the world had ever seen and one of the few women in history to become a hokage. She had to make careful decisions since she was born and becoming hokage only increased that responsibility, so she could not just do anything hasty like her predecessors…but Senju Tsunade was not like any of the previous hokages. A good part of her life was done by hasty actions and regret, but she always followed what she felt was best, and right now she was going to do what she thought was best.

"Agreed," Tsunade said, nodding her head. "You will only answer to me, but you will give up your name and all ties to the Hyuga clan. If you wish to stand apart from them, then you will in everything."

"I accept," Hinata agreed without hesitation. "The clan has never done anything for me, so I will not grieve losing their name."

"Understandable," Tsunade replied, reaching into her desk and pulling out some documents. "You will fill these out and after a set preliminary time, I will instate you as a full-fledge shinobi of Konoha, and depending on your performance, I will see which rank is appropriate for you."

"She is a Sage, she should be given full privileges now," the flaming woman growled.

"Kikyo-sensei," Hinata reprimanded softly. "I must prove myself to them, it is only right. I have not foot in this village since I was very little." She then bowed to the Hokage. "Please forgive my sensei. She is really a kind Ifrit, if a little short-fused."

Kikyo growled somewhat at the comment but made no further argument. Hinata took the offered documents and filled them out once she was sure they were to her benefit and did not contain any loopholes that could be exploited against her. Once she checked them all and found no trickery, she signed them once she saw everything was to her liking, and then handed them to the Hokage, who in turn placed her official seal on them and tucked them away back into her desk.

"This has been a very unexpected evening," Tsunade remarked. "But hopefully this will be a better experience for you, Hinata."

"It will be, hokage-sama," Hinata replied, bowing some.

"Now then, are you able to afford a place for yourself? As you have disowned your connections to the Hyugas, you cannot stay in their compound," Tsunade asked.

"I would have picked a place far from them, even if I was allowed that option," Hinata replied curtly as she reached into her coat and withdrew a pouch and yanked out what looked like gold. "I have sufficient funds, though. I will find a hotel for the night and then I will look for a more permanent residence tomorrow."

"I'll give you a day to get reacquainted with the village, but then I will have the private test set up to see just how strong you really are," Tsunade said. She wanted to see just how powerful her Sage-Training had made her, and also see just how strong the Rinnegan really was…

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Hinata said and then bowed once more. "I will take my leave then…good night."

Tsunade gave them the dismissing wave and then reached down under her desk for a secret bottle of sake. She watched the girl and the Ifrit leave, and then glared at the corner of her office, and said with a heated tone, "Sparrow, come here!"

He appeared once again and leapt to the center of the office and bowed lowly. "H-Hai, Hokage-sama!"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to punish you for revealing yourself without my order," Tsunade stated before she took a deep gulp start from her bottle. "Tomorrow, at nine, I want you to deliver a summons to Hiashi to come to my office. Also, you are not to inform him that his so-called 'dead' daughter has returned alive and well to Konoha; I will deal with that matter myself."

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" Sparrow replied shakily.

"Good, now get back into your damn corner," Tsunade growled.

As swiftly as he could, the frightened Anbu returned to his post. Tsunade took another swig from her bottle and sighed in frustration. She could already feel a headache building up at the front of her skull, and she feared it would not go away any time soon with what she will have to confront tomorrow. _'Just when I thought this village couldn't be any more stupid…this drops right into my lap. I'm gonna ring that little gaki's neck for getting me to agree to take up this job!'_

**xXx**

The next morning was not going to be one of Hiashi's best. It started at breakfast. The servant hadn't brought him his usual fixings, stating that they had run out and their usual groceries had been late the last few days, so he had to settle with a simple bowl of miso soup, then the elders had interrupted his morning meal with demands on his daughter, Hanabi. Wishing to know how far she was in her training. When he appeased the old wretches, he was about to try and relax in his study when an Anbu appeared and delivered a summons from the Hokage. Unable to deny the summons, he begrudgingly told the Anbu he would answer.

Upon his arrival to the Hokage's office, he was greeted with a fist right to the face.

"You have some things to explain to me, Hiashi!" an enraged Senju growled, towering over him after he had fallen onto his back from her strike.

Hiashi gazed up in bewilderment. "Hokage-sama? Why did you strike me?"

"If you do not answer my questions, you _will_ receive far worse than any beating I could give you," Tsunade stated darkly.

That in itself was the worst threat the Senju could give. Her super strength was legendary and could deliver a blow that could cause earthquakes. If she stated she planned to do worse than give a beating, chances were, the Shinigami was sharping his dagger…

"What questions are you speaking of?" Hiashi asked cautiously as he tried to get up from the floor, only to be kicked back down by his leader.

"You will stay on the floor until I tell you to stand," Tsunade commanded. She did this to remind the man who was the one with authority and who had to follow. She had taken much aggravation from this man's cold, stoic approach during council meetings on matters of the village, and always he did what was best for his clan, and only them. What she had to enforce was that he was a shinobi of Konoha, not a private dignitary with an inflated ego. They were her shinobi to command and if needed, to die, for the safety of Konoha and the Land of Fire, just as she was at the direct command of the Fire Daimyo.

Hiashi wisely did as she commanded and did not try to get back up, wondering what he had done to raise his Hokage's ire. He started to speak but halted when her eyes narrowed dangerously. Seeing he was going to remain quiet and stay where she wanted, she sauntered over to her desk and pulled out a report that she had her assistant and first apprentice, Shizune, retrieve for her last night. She memorized the entire thing word for word and was now going to make the Hyuga eat his own words.

"I'm going to read a report to you. You should recognize it as it was written by you personally," Tsunade replied, settling down comfortably in her seat and opened the report. "In it you stated that your daughter had run away for unknown reasons and was found dead, mauled by one of the dangerous creatures that reside in the Forest of Death. Most of her remains were gone, and you noted most importantly, that her 'head' had been retrieved, so there was no risk of an enemy force obtaining the Byakugan." She then closed the report and then threw it right at his feet. "Now tell me, how much of that was true?"

"That report was made years ago, why is it important now?"

He soon regretted asking that question as Anbu suddenly appeared around him, one of them being the same one that had delivered the message.

"I asked you a direct question…" Tsunade growled deeply, fighting back the urge to slam her fist on her desk for sure of rendering it to splinters. "If you do not answer it…"

The blades of the Anbu appeared and positioned themselves around his neck. Hiashi glared at them and was about to activate his Byakugan so he could see just who these men were that would dare threaten to kill him, but then he felt a huge concentrated wave of killing intent wash over him from Tsunade.

"…It's close enough to the truth," Hiashi finally said.

Tsunade grimaced and tightened her fists into a ball. Just that statement alone was enough for Hinata's story to be verified as true, and that the girl deserved some compensation for what she was forced into. She would have to be subtle about it. It would not do to just give the girl so much at once. That was what the council did with one member of their village, and the spoiled brat took everything and spat in their faces, and then deserted the village when he felt he wasn't getting enough. She wasn't sure of Hinata yet and did not wish to ruin her as the village had ruined the only Uchiha who had survived his clan's extermination.

"Then tell me…Hiashi…what really did happen that night you chased your own daughter out into one of the most dangerous areas in Konoha?" Tsunade accused.

Hiashi widened his already startled eyes. _'How did she learn that…?'_

"I won't keep repeating myself," Tsunade warned.

"I do not see your reason for bringing up such a trivial thing that happened years ago," Hiashi stated, having enough of this treatment and how ridiculous it all was. "But if you are so set on knowing what happened: then I will get this over with shortly. She failed to perform adequately before the elders, as she has failed every training spar I've given her. I reprimanded her, as her father and mentor, and acting as the weak thing she was, she ran to escape her punishment. I followed her for some time, letting her tire out and realize how foolish she was being, and then she managed to eluded me for a short bit, but I quickly found her, as I knew I would, and was about to do what I needed to be done with her, for the betterment of herself and the clan…and then a demon appeared and snatched her up." His tone had been condescending as he spoke, but it started to drip with loathing when he mentioned the demon. "The wretched thing knocked me aside and took hold of Hinata, and then she disappeared with my daughter."

Tsunade had been counting backwards from ten…three times in a row.

"Believing that the demon had taken her to devour back in its lair, I made the logical assumption that she was killed immediately," Hiashi continued calmly, taking the entire matter too simple. "I did not feel it would be worth sending important lives after the demon, wasting valuable men when we were still recovering from the Kyuubi's attack. We could not afford anymore lost shinobi, so I deduced for the better to handle the matter as quietly as possible."

"So you lied about your daughter's disappearance just to save on manpower? You allowed her to suffer whatever fate you were not sure of, because you valued the resources of the village more than your own child?" Tsunade hissed lowly.

"Yes, as Hokage, you should understand that that was the best choice at that time," Hiashi countered coldly.

"As Hokage, it is my duty to decide what is in the best interest of the village, not its shinobi," Tsunade retorted. "You really do not think you did anything wrong, did you?"

"The clan did not suffer after she died, neither did the village. So no, I do not see what harm came from it," Hiashi stated as stoically as he could, even with the blades at his throat. "Now I deserve to know why this matter is being drawn up. It bears no real importance now."

An evil look crossed over the Sannin's face. "Tell me…as a parent; don't you feel any remorse that you lost your first child for so long?"

"I grieved as was appropriate at her funeral, to dwell on it now would serve nothing," Hiashi replied automatically.

"You are a cold bastard, Hiashi," Tsunade said lowly, she signaled for the Anbu to back off, and they did. She gave the clan leader permission to stand.

When he did, he glared coldly down at her and straightened his rumpled kimono. "If we are done…I should return to my clan."

"No, we are far from done," Tsunade stated harshly, firing another wave of killing intent at him. "The very fact that you lied to your superior commander during a time of crisis, taking it upon yourself to see what was in the village's interest I can have you arrested for treason." She glared heatedly at him. "I can have your clan punished for the willful harsh treatment toward children. The Daimyo has set laws in these lands against that, but no…your clan is so prestige and faultless, you believe yourselves above such laws."

Hiashi started to feel a little panicked now. He wanted to state how foolish she was, how unimportant the matter really was. He lost a daughter to a monster, she was gone and there was no point in trying to rescue a corpse. The demon he encountered would have made short work of her corpse, leaving no traces of her, so none of their enemies could harvest the Byakugan from her, leaving no threat to the village. But he endured her reprimand for the sake of her position as Hokage, and it was only that that kept his mouth closed.

"I can see that you think I'm wasting both our time here," Tsunade quickly deduced, seeing the look of boredom in his white eyes.

"If you feel it is a matter to be addressed, then I shall hear you out," Hiashi replied stiffly.

"Well, then I shall cut to the chase of this _little_ matter," Tsunade said. "…Hinata did not die."

Hiashi felt as if someone just threw a bucket of cold water in his face. What color he had from his pale face drained away, leaving in him truly white as a ghost. "…H-Hinata…is…"

Tsunade nodded very slowly. "Yes, Hinata did not die. She is in fact alive and well."

Hiashi's questionable look pressed her to go on, as he could not get his voice to work to ask her how it was possible.

"It's very simple, really. She wasn't kidnapped by that beast you stated, she was _saved_ by what we know as beings called Ifrit," Tsunade continued with an even tone. "The Ifrit had recused her from an abusive parent about to strike her again, even though the child was already bleeding from a previous strike." Now her tone had dropped dangerously cold. "Feeling the child was better off with her own kind, she took Hinata to live among her kind, and apparently, they saw fit to train her, and upon finish her training, she chose to return to Konoha to serve as one of its shinobi."

The stoic clan leader took a moment to regain his wits and swallow to wet his dry throat. "T-Then she needs to present herself to the clan. If she has returned then she must…"

The loud smack of Tsunade's hand when it slapped her desk interrupted him. "She's renounced herself from your clan. She no longer carries or wants to carry the name of Hyuga."

"That is not her choice to make. She is a part of the clan and always will as she possesses the Byakugan. We cannot have a rogue member of the clan walk free. It would increase the chances of our Kekkei-Genkai being stolen by an enemy power," Hiashi stated harshly, knowing it was in his power to deny his daughter from severing herself from her clan.

The cold smile on the blonde Hokage's face made him worry, though. "You forget. As Hokage, it is I who has final say on what my shinobi can say, and before you say anything, I already instated her as a genin, so she falls under my authority. And if I felt it was in the village's best interest, I would send all or any member of your clan to another village, including Kumo, in a heartbeat!" She nearly shouted at him, but then calmed down quickly. "But that is not the case here; for you see she does not possess just the Byakugan anymore."

This threw Hiashi further into confusion. "I-I do not understand."

"I will tell you, only because this will make this easier for Hinata's claim to forsake your clan. Because of her training with the Ifrits, she has surprised me by unlocking a dojutsu that was thought lost since the Ridokou Sennin died," Tsunade revealed.

"The Ridokou Sennin?! B-But that would mean she possesses…!" Hiashi uttered in total awe and shock.

"Yes, the failure that you claimed her to be, has in fact, unlocked the ultimate dojutsu, and that's just one thing she's accomplished. The Ifrits had seen fit to give her Sage-Training and she completed it and has been given the title of Fire Sage by the Ifrits leader," Tsunade added on, wanting to see just how much she could make the man gap like a fish. "I will be holding a private test for her to undertake to see just how powerful her training has made her, then I will give her a rank that fits her abilities, but just having the Rinnegan will surely make her a jonin automatically."

"T-That's impossible…Hinata…she could never had achieved such power!" Hiashi uttered in denial.

"But she has, and it shows that your clan has truly fucked up!" Tsunade retorted angrily. "And when she finishes her test and proves just how strong she _AND_ I know she is, it will be public proof that the Hyuga Clan has lost more than it can ever realize, because of your close-minded traditions." She then gave the signal for her personal Anbu guard to pull back. "You are dismissed."

Once the Anbu withdrew from around the clan leader, he looked about ready to argue. If his daughter was still alive and if she was indeed as strong as she was, then she had to take her place as heiress and submit to her family's laws. She could not be allowed to break away from her clan, she was Hyuga and her bloodline was too precious to be let loose, and even more now if she had truly obtained the ultimate dojutsu; the Hyuga clan would need its power to…

All those thoughts were immediately replaced with the sudden explosion of pain at the back of his neck, and then the loss of control of his entire body. Towering behind was Tsunade with a hand raised where she had struck the back of his neck with lightning-chakra. She stared down stoically as Hiashi's body squirmed randomly, trying to make his body move the way it was supposed to, but it refused and went the opposite way than he desired.

"Take him back to his compound, I'm done looking at him," Tsunade ordered, but waved for Sparrow to remain.

It was only because of his secret identity as an Anbu member that allowed him to act against a Main member of the Hyuga, if any of them knew he was just a Branch member, they would use their pathetic seal to torture him just out of spite to get back at her; she would not allow someone to suffer, especially if it was just for a cheap shot. She had two others take the spasming clan leader out of her office to deliver back to his self-centered clan. It would be humiliating for them to see their leader be brought back to them as a squirming, pathetic thing…as show of her displeasure with them.

It was time the clan learned what her predecessors had neglected to do.

As she returned to her desk once again, she reached for the sake bottle she had waiting for her in drawer. Not bothering with a cup like last night, she drank straight from the bottle and almost did not stop until the bottle was nearly empty. "This is gonna be a long few days."

She knew things were about to become problematic for Hinata, she would not be able to stand on her own for long. The council would find a way to force her hand into giving in to their demands; no doubt the Hyuga clan will become an even bigger pain after this reprimand. She would need to figure every countermeasure she could think of that they will come up with. But this was where her medical mind came into fruition as a leader. She analyzed the possible threats as she would a lethal toxin invading a body. It was just a matter of knowing what kind of affects the toxin would reveal, and then she could easily come up with an antidote to fight off the toxin. Politics acted in the same manner. Someone would 'attack' an issue and try to break it down until it was near death, or until it met a satisfactory compromise, and then go dormant until it was awoken and chose to attack again. She had to find the right way to ward off the attack and kill any reason for a politician to attack the issue at hand.

She was just working out some possible loopholes she could exploit, when a chunin messenger arrived through her door. "Hokage-sama! They have returned from their training mission!"

Tsunade almost dropped her bottle, but the first, true smile she had worn all day appeared quickly on her lips. "Finally…that old perv sure took his time on this one."

**xXx**

They had just crossed the threshold of the village, when the younger of the two ran straight inside and ran up the nearest telephone pole. He let his eyes roam over the various rooftops and up to the Hokage Monument that overlooked the entire village, landing specifically on the last two stone-crafted head features carved along the mountainside. These features were the past Hokages, ending with the certain one, Senju Tsunade. He smirked when she saw they placed her face next to his hero and favorite Hokage, the Yondaime: The Yellow Flash of Konoha.

He raised a fist and clenched it before him as he gazed up at his idol. "I'm home, everyone! Konoha's…new Toad Sage has arrived!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any material retaining to it. I only take claim to the plot of this story, and only that.

**A/N: **Wow, thank you all for the support and your kind words! For those that didn't have a kind word to say…Well, I'd like to say something here toward you all…but from the lack of responses you've put into your reviews and the trollers just wanting to bring the hate: You only waste your own time.

**xXx**

**Chapter 3**

Hinata had woken up early on her first day back in her home village. She felt a bit nostalgic being back in the place of her birth and was eager to see if much had changed from when she last walked its streets. Kikyo had gone with her—eager as much Hinata was to explore the village—and so she could keep an eye on her should anyone from her clan decide to try anything. It was only a matter of time before Hinata's presence was known to the entire village, but she hoped for her apprentice and closest friend that she might have a little time to enjoy herself now that she was back where she belonged. The Old One had stressed that she would need to return to her village once she was ready, but it was hard on him as well as he had grown very fond of her, as had the entire Ifrit Clan.

He had ordered Kikyo in secrecy to do all in her power to protect Hinata, even if that means burning away all her enemies, whether they were blood related or not: She must be protected if anyone was to survive the coming darkness…

It was different for Hinata seeing her old home with older eyes. When last she gazed at it, she had only been seven, but even now, after ten years away, the only thing that changed was how smaller everything looked. It was still a pleasant village and it retained the peaceful beauty she remembered, but now it all wasn't so big anymore. The people were friendly still as they greeted her with awe, if somewhat timidly when they caught sight of Kikyo. Neither missed the lecherous looks some of the more brazen men gave them, but they were easily ignored as none of them were brave enough to do anything more after Kikyo sent a fiery glare at them, literally. They quickly ran off when they saw the fire licking out of her eyes, fearing she might suck in their souls with that evil glare.

Kikyo wasn't sure where they were going until Hinata arrived to a small bakery shop, where she introduced the Ifrit to a treat that she had mentioned to her that she really loved: A cinnamon bun. It had gone over very well with Kikyo who had devoured nine more after she tried her first one while Hinata had been a bit more restraint and had only three; it had been a long time since she had her favorite food, it was only fair she have at least more than one—so she reasoned to herself.

Once they had finished their celebrating breakfast, Hinata showed Kikyo her favorite spots: from her spot in the park where she liked to sit among the wild flowers, to the small pond out in the forest area of the training fields she tried to train by herself, and then oddly to a very unimpressive spot in the woods. They remained there for some time until Kikyo asked what was so important with this particular spot.

"I met someone here…a year before you came and saved me, Kikyo. I was chased out here by some jealous civilian children that made fun of me because of my eyes and because I came from a powerful and respected clan. I was so scared back then that I was going to be beaten on, but then…he came," Hinata replied, smiling very warmly as she ran her fingers through the soft grass where she sat.

"Oh? A young boy? Heh, this is the first time I've ever heard you talk about a male of your species," Kikyo smirked at her.

Hinata looked away a bit bashfully; some of her old self leaking out, something she only did when she was alone with Kikyo. "He was the first person that stood up for me. He took the beating for me and kept them from coming back after me, not fighting back at all even when it looked like they might really kill him. It was then that my so-called guardian came and chased them away, and then he had the nerve to tell me to stay away from the boy who saved me from those bullies. Thinking back on it now, I think he was there the whole time and had planned to let those bullies hurt me to teach me some kind of lesson, and he let that boy get hurt just because he interfered…" She sighed sadly. "…They've brought so much pain to me, but it was truly unforgivable that they would let someone else get hurt because of me."

"I still think you should just burn them all away…" Kikyo growled lowly.

Hinata frowned at her. "…No, because then that would make me no better than them. I have hope they might be saved from their own arrogance, but for now the only thing I can do is to openly defy them by remaining apart from them. I have no delusions my father won't try to have me controlled and branded with their precious Caged-Bird Seal."

Kikyo smirked wickedly at that thought. "Let them try, their pathetic seal won't work on a Sage trained by the Ifrit."

Hinata smiled up knowingly at her. "It would almost be fun to let them try and brand me just to see their faces when they find it won't work on me." She picked herself up and brushed off some of the loose grass that clung to her jacket and pants. "But I'm not even going to give them the satisfaction that they think they've won in any way."

"That's my girl," Kikyo praised.

"Let's head back to the village, as nice as the hotel we're staying is, I think it would be better if we had our own place to live," Hinata advised.

Agreeing, Kikyo followed Hinata back to the village where they proceeded to locate a more permanent living situation. She wanted to find one soon before she had to take the test the Hokage had planned for her. It turned out to be harder than she imagined as news of Kikyo's existence had now spread all too well amongst the villagers, labeling her as a demon. This made it a bit harder for her to talk to any landlords as they did not want to risk having a creature like Kikyo residing in any of their properties, which left renting a place completely out for her…so she simply bought herself a new place.

It had taken some effort for her to convince a Real-Estate Agent to listen to her long enough to try and locate a suitable home, but it was remarkably easier once she showed just how much gold she had. Turned out there was an entire compound that was unused since a great tragedy had befallen it. She remembered it somewhat; it was the home of the Uchiha Clan. They were highly respected, but were driven by their egos and at times considered themselves the elite among all of Konoha's forces; at least from what she remembered her father saying about them. It did, however, come to a surprise to her that they were all nearly wiped out by one of their own clansmen, and what was worse was that there had been one survivor from that terrible incident…but then had deserted his village to align himself with one of Konoha's greatest enemy: the Snake Sannin Orochimaru.

Since the last Uchiha had deserted his place in the village, the entire compound was left to nearly rot away, as no one seemed to dare live there since all those deaths took place. But to Hinata, it was the perfect place as she would have all the space she would need and once she set up her own personal security, she could call on other Ifrits to come visit her…once she made a few personal specifications to accommodate them. The Old One had given her enough treasure that she could have bought the entire village if she so desired, but she did not care to own that much. She just needed enough so she could be comfortable and have the space she wanted from everyone that might try and bother her and her Ifrit friends.

After she settled all the financial end of things, plus hired some carpenters and decorators, she and Kikyo decided to treat themselves to lunch. She had left the Real-Estate Agent very happy, having left a little bonus for agreeing to help her purchase the old Uchiha Compound that would leave him off very well for quite a while.

Kikyo had spotted a small stand that had a very delicious scent coming from it earlier on when they had explored the village. She had wanted to try it once they had finished their business and they were now working their way back to it.

"Oh! I can it smell again!" Kikyo said as a bit of drool pooled out of the corner of her mouth.

Hinata giggled at the Ifrit and patted her shoulder. "Just hold on a bit more, Kikyo-sensei. I'll make sure you can have all you can eat."

"Yatta!" The Ifrit cheered, not caring her actions caused her mane to flare up and scare all the people around her.

They located the stand and much to Hinata's surprise it was the one stand she had visited in secret when she managed to get away from her guardians: Ichiraku. The stand the boy that had saved her loved to come and eat at. Feeling happier than she realized that Kikyo had chosen this place, she gingerly entered the stand and was quickly greeted by friendly smiling waiter.

"Welcome to Ichiraku's Ramen Stand!" a man had greeted them and waved energetically, only to get the back of his head slapped by the chef.

"What have I about how you greet the customers? Don't use so much energy otherwise you will scare them off. Always greet a new customer as warmly as you would make a bowl of broth and kindly smile as though you were just greeting Kami herself!" the chef stated after giving the waiter one more slap on top of the head, a bit lighter this time.

"Gomen, sensei!" the waiter whimpered and returned to the back of the kitchen.

The chef sighed. "I'm sorry for that display…it has been hard hiring proper help since my daughter left to travel to learn more about restaurant development. I cannot wait for her to return."

"Sounds like you and your daughter have a very close bond, that's nice," Hinata said with a hint of envy.

"Arigato, umm…miss?"

"Hinata, just Hinata," she introduced herself.

"Nah, nah! You should state who you truly are, The Fire Sage of Ashen Island, Hinata the Flaming Beast!" Kikyo reprimanded.

Hinata gave her a deadpanned look. "That's a bit much, Kikyo-sensei…"

"Not when it comes to other humans, Hinata-san! They only respect titles and powerful ones as a Sage. You should really take more pride in having the title of Sage more often," Kikyo retorted.

"A-A Sage?! Oh, we are honored to have a Sage eat at our restaurant!" the chef quickly stated and bowed deeply to them. "I shall serve you personally so there is no mistake in your order!"

"Oh, I like this man. Hinata-san, we must remember to always eat here!" Kikyo declared.

"You will not regret choosing my humble ramen stand Lady Sage-sama!" the chef commented.

"Please, I don't like formalities, just treat us as you would any of your customers," Hinata replied kindly.

Kikyo huffed at her pupil but relented and gazed at the menu , seeing what might be worth trying, then caught sight of one dish that looked extremely intriguing. "Umm, what's the Naruto Super House Special?"

Hinata jerked her head to the menu and started at the menu. "Naruto…?"

"Ah! That is in honor of my number one customer, Uzumaki Naruto!" the chef replied and took hold of the menu fondly. "I have never met another person with so much passion for ramen or could put it away like he could. He truly is a remarkable lad."

"…Can you tell me more about him?" Hinata asked as discretely as she could without sounding too over enthused.

"I can tell you that he's one of Konoha's most interesting shinobi. He's done more for this ungrateful village than it deserves! But no matter how many times he's bled for this village, everyone still treats him like a plague, but he continued to keep impressing people. Last I heard he was still training with the great Toad Sage, Jiraiya!" the chef greeted.

"…Until now, old man Teuchi!" a high-energetic voice said as a tall spiky blonde hair teenager in an orange and black coat and pants entered the stand and plopped himself down on the closest empty stool.

"Well, well, look who has returned!" the chef smiled at the blonde.

"Yeah, it's me but not as the genin you once knew!" the blonde said. "I've had a really tough training trip with Ero-sennin and now I'm even closer to fulfilling my goal!"

"That's really good to hear, Naruto! In honor of you coming back, I'll make these first ten rounds free of charge!" Teuchi said, resting his fists on his hips proudly.

"You're the best!" Naruto cheered and only then did he noticed the softly gasping girl and the Ifrit sitting next to her. "Oh, hi there! I'm sorry…I've been told I get overly excited. It's just been a long time since I've been away from home and I missed eating her so much."

"That's quite all right…Naruto," Hinata said after she calmed down a bit.

"Umm, say…you look familiar. Have we met before?" Naruto asked in wonder as he rubbed the back of his head in thought.

"Yes…we do know each other, but it was from a long time ago," Hinata said and couldn't help smiling at him.

"Oi, this is the guy you were talking about, Hinata!? Wow, he's a looker, no wonder you have a crush on him!" Kikyo blurted out, doing so on purpose to embarrass her pupil a bit.

"Kikyo-sensei!" Hinata shouted, her face reddening some as she blushed in embarrassment.

Naruto also had a blush on his face. "Uh…pardon?"

Hinata fumbled for a bit and stared straight at the counter. "W-What she means is…uh, uh, I've got a lot of respect for you! I mean, since that day you saved me from some bullies…" she was stopped from continuing when he slapped his hand hard on the wooden counter.

"Oh! It's you! That pretty, weird girl from the woods!" Naruto exclaimed as memories of that time came flashing by.

"W-Weird girl?!" Kikyo growled.

"P-Pretty?" Hinata uttered, her face flaming red now.

"Yeah, I remember you. You were that girl that was getting picked on by those temes. Heh, my only regret was that I didn't send them walking without a few bruises of their own, but it was worth it keeping you safe!" Naruto smiled at her.

"T-Thank you, I didn't mean for you to get hurt like that…b-but…" She slammed her fists on the counter, almost scaring the blonde and everyone in the stand. "Gah, I thought I was over this stuttering stuff!"

"Whoa, take it easy! Let's calm down a moment and take things slow, okay?" Naruto suggested, his eyes slightly widening as the girl had actually cracked her counter where her hands had struck them, leaving him a bit wary of this girl's real strength.

Hinata noticed what she just did and looked apologetic to the gapping chef. "Gomen, I will pay for the repairs!"

"Heh, sorry, it was all my fault. I didn't mean to make you so nervous," Naruto apologized.

"No, no. It wasn't you…I'm…I'm just not used to getting compliments from others, well, from other humans, that is," Hinata admitted and did her best to actually look at right at him.

"Oh? Haven't you been around a lot of people before?" Naruto asked.

Hinata shook her head sadly. "I've been gone from this village for a long time…since I was real little actually."

"I was gonna ask that, too. I never saw you around the village after that incident," Naruto remarked.

"That's a long story…" Hinata sighed softly.

"Well, I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours while we wait for our food to get served, how's that sound?" Naruto offered, giving her a wide foxy smile.

Something in her stirred at that look and it made her smile very happily at him. "S-Sure. That sounds fair enough."

"But, uh, I have to ask…does your story explain why you're hanging out with a girl with horns coming outta her head?" Naruto whispered while giving Kikyo some nervous glances.

"It has everything to do with her," Hinata giggled and began telling her tale to the boy she had never forgotten.

**xXx**

In the Hokage tower, Tsunade was just finishing her first bottle of sake when a very familiar and welcomed person entered her office through the window.

"Hey, isn't it a bit early to be drinking?" Jiraiya teased as he smiled at his old teammate.

Tsunade hid the smile she had at hearing his voice, replaying it with the usual scowl she always used with him as she pulled her sake bottle away from her lips. "And just when I thought my day was going to start getting better."

"Oh, you know you missed me, hime!" Jiraiya replied, not all buying her act.

"Whatever, what have you to report about your training trip? Did the brat actually get any better?" Tsunade wondered as she took another sip from her bottle.

The dead silence that followed made her pause and look to see Jiraiya staring at her seriously. He hardly ever got that look and she knew when he did, she had to pay attention to everything he said.

"The kid did more than you can imagine…During our training trip, I decided to put him through Sage-training and he completed it, and if anything, he surpassed my skills when he finished. He's a true sage," Jiraiya revealed.

Tsunade was completely floored. She had expected the brat to come back finally as a decent shinobi…but to have undergone Sage-training in less than two years and for her teammate to declare he was a true sage, that was all the more shocking to her. And yet, she slowly started to smile and leaned her head against the back of her chair. "Only that gaki could manage to do all that…"

"There's more, I need to tell you, hime. I wasn't going to make Naruto take Sage-Training so early. I had planned to wait till he was older. I originally was just going to teach him how to tap into the Kyuubi's chakra and use it better," Jiraiya said.

Tsunade glared at him. "Was that all you were gonna do?"

"Well, I do have to continue my research so that I can produce more appealing work for my beloved fans," Jiraiya said sheepishly.

It was only because she wanted him to explain himself more that she didn't plant her fist right into his face. Her left eyebrow did start to twitch some. "Then pray tell why did you decide to put him through Sage-Training?"

"I was called by the Elder Toad…and I met a very interesting creature. One I never would have dreamt of meeting, the Old One of the Ifrit Clan," Jiraiya said gravely.

"Ifrit?" Now Tsunade was more than sure that everything that had happened last night was not a coincidence.

"Yes, the leader of the Ifrit Clan had visited the Toads and demanded I'd attend so that he could share a vision he was given that conjoined it with the Toads…It seems that they've been training someone up and that would help the Savior in the darkest hour to come. They both would stop the one that would destroy the world we live in now, and that Naruto would play a very important role in it all," Jiraiya said, and then paled all over and ran right up to her and seemed to cowering some at her feet. "He said if I didn't take Naruto's training more seriously, then he'd see all my work was burned and the most valuable thing that makes me a man would be dipped in his lava pools!"

Tsunade groaned and stared at him in irritation before flicking him off her, sending him rolling away. "You really are a pathetic man, aren't you?"

"He threatened to melt off my manhood! He and that crazy female Ifrit he had with him!" Jiraiya shouted back once he righted himself up.

"Female? Can you tell what she looked like?" Tsunade asked instantly.

Jiraiya was quick to explain all these woman's features, going so far as to even give her measurements, which Tsunade responded with another flick of her finger at his head, sending him almost through her office wall. The description matched the same as the one that had accompanied Hinata. There was more to this than she originally thought and she wondered exactly what did the Ifrit Clan know. She would need to speak with Hinata more once she had settled her place in the village, and if possible, get the Ifrit woman, Kikyo, to explain why she had involved herself with Naruto's training.

For the time, she'd just let things work out as they were, but for now she better get her teammate up to current events. "Hmm, that sounds like the one that was with our new Sage."

"What are you talking about? She hasn't gone anywhere near Naruto, at least not to my knowledge," Jiraiya said in confusion.

"I didn't mean him, you baka! I meant another Sage that we just gained," Tsunade snapped, hiding the smile she really wanted to express when he started gapping like a fish, but then that serious, professional expression soon fell into place.

"Tell me what happened," Jiraiya said.

Tsunade then spend the next half hour telling him about the lost heiress of the Hyuga clan and that she was the one the Ifrits had been training, and then she explained the little matter she had finished dealing with when she had Hiashi come to her to answer for the misinformed report of his daughter's death. Jiraiya was not pleased at all after what he heard.

"That damn bastard would do that to his own daughter, just to make her what he thinks she should be?" Jiraiya cursed venomously.

"Yes, and this makes me question just how all the clans have been treating their own kids. If they spread their influences on them, then we'll have another generation like them," Tsunade mused bitterly.

"Maybe not. Naruto only had good things to say about most of his classmates save for that little spoiled traitor Sasuke," Jiraiya remarked.

Tsunade nodded in some relief. Naruto, for all his faults he could read people as clear as crystal. He somehow had the knack of understanding people and seeing the good, even in those that were once thought to possess no good in them. The brat just had a way of getting under people's skin and bringing out the best in whoever he met: she should know, she was one of the people he changed…

"I'll keep a bit closer eye on the younger generation, but I'll take your word if Naruto said that," Tsunade replied.

Any further explanation was cut short when a loud explosion erupted from somewhere in the village.

"What was that?!" Jiraiya cried out, running over to the window to see a stream of black smoke rising from a very familiar spot in the village. "…That's where I left Naruto!"

**xXx**

Naruto was amazed with Hinata's life story and at the same time had a new dislike for some of his fellow villagers, particularly those among the Hyuga clan. He never did like them to start. They always seemed so stuffy and treated everyone was completely inferior only because they possessed a powerful Dojutsu. His opinion of them only lowered when he ran into a Hyuga during the chunin exams. The guy was way too above himself and treated even his own teammates with contempt. He managed to not only beat the stuck up Hyuga, but also prove that people could change their fate. But now, he had an even lower opinion of the clan after what Hinata told him. No one should treat their own family in such a way, it was just too cruel!

Hinata finished her story after she admitted to gladly denouncing being the heiress of the Hyuga clan, to which Naruto was very shocked, as was the chef.

"Humph, I can't believe a man who calls himself a father would do that to his own daughter! I'll never let him set foot in my respectable stand, ever!" Teuchi declared, making a note to actually make a sign that would forbid Hiashi from entering his ramen stand while he set down their first order of ramen in front of them.

"I appreciate the thought, but I know my clan…they do too many underhanded things. I would hate that you lost your business because of me," Hinata said.

"Bah, nothing! They won't be the first people I've rebuked from my stand, and I only fear they won't be the last. Now eat up!" Teuchi said, pointing at their food.

"Arigato," Hinata replied quietly and picked up her chop-sticks.

Kikyo was gawking at the huge bowl and all the contents in it. She never in her long life ever thought that one meal could include so many ingredients! She could have sworn there was a ray of light coming off the meal and all she could do was drool in anticipation of the divine goodness that awaited her taste buds. She wasn't aware of the chef or the blonde boy watching her as she awed over her food and without care of using chop-sticks, she picked up the bowl and began swallowing all the contents. The bliss that ran down her as she savored the broth was better than even spending some time in the lava pools. She was about to order another one when she quickly whipped around and caught a rock that had almost smacked the back of her head. Her eyes narrowed at it and it began to heat up in her grip and slowly start melting.

She poked her head out of the stand and flashed her angry eyes at the street, only to find a small group of humans standing with various kinds of weapons. From the quick scan over the group, she spotted at least one trained warrior amongst them, but he wasn't dressed in the standard shinobi outfit, choosing instead to wear civilian clothing and a white-cloth mask over his face with a white bandanna over his head. She could easily tell he a trained warrior from the small amount of killing intent he was leaking out and from how he moved himself. It was too precise and he kept fighting not to fall into a fighting stance.

She locked right on that particular human. "Are you the one that threw this?"

"Get out of our village, you fucking demon?" he hissed hostility.

The moment that sentence was said, Naruto froze. Hinata had noticed it because he was gulping down his broth. He stopped eating and slowly began to put the bowl down and turned and stood out of the stand, revealing his presence to the crowd. Kikyo was amazed when the crowd actually looked afraid when Naruto stepped out into the street.

"I'm sorry, I was eating a really good meal…what did I just hear?" Naruto challenged, cupping his ear and leaning it toward the crowd.

"This has nothing to do with you, brat! We have to suffer your existence because of the law, but that horned bitch does not belong in our village!" he spat.

Now Hinata stepped out of the stand, waving for the chef and his employees to take cover.

"She's my personal summon as I have a contract with the Ifrit Clan. I don't expect any of you prejudiced idiots to realize this since I just returned to the village last night," Hinata informed them as she joined her mentor and the blonde out on the street.

"She looks like a demon. We've got enough trouble with one, and if you said she's a summon, then we definitely don't need someone who can call more of her kind here!" the man retorted, getting a cheer from the civilians around him.

"Tough talk from a guy using his fellow neighbors as meat-shields," Kikyo said lowly.

"We'll defend our village to the last! We've had enough to deal with that bastard trash next to you!" one of the civilians said hatefully.

Naruto ignored the insult directed at him. "Why are you all getting so angry? They haven't done anything to you."

"This doesn't concern you, brat! Why did you even come back? We've been happy since we no longer had to deal with your existence!" the masked man snapped at him.

Hinata could feel the anger roll off Naruto, but he kept up his grinning mask as he regarded the guy like he hadn't just insulted him.

"All right, all right. We've had our fun. Now unless you guys want to get arrested for causing a disturbance out in public, why don't we just return to our daily lives and…" Naruto stopped talking when the same one who threw a rock at Kikyo, threw one right at Naruto, knocking right upside the head. He didn't move from the blow, not even seemingly registering he was struck, even as a trail of blood leaked down the side of his face.

He may not seem to care that he was just struck, but Hinata did and she was vivid.

"That…was a really stupid mistake," Hinata said darkly as she started to walk slowly toward the group of people. Her Rinnegan began to glow intimidatingly as an aura began to emit from around her. She did nothing to contain the killing intent she had for these stupid morons, she only directed it right at them. No sooner had she done that, the crowd begun falling to their knees and crawling away from the imposing woman.

Whatever she might have had planned was stopped when Naruto placed his hand on her shoulder, ignoring how hot she felt to the touch or how his hand started smoking where it was. "Hinata, please…they're not worth it."

Hinata paused and the aura around her disappeared and she looked at him with puzzlement. "How can you forgive them so easily?"

Naruto just shrugged and flashed her a genuine smile. "It's just how I am."

She had no idea why. How come she was so moved by that simple gesture, but her cheeks began to blush as her admiration began to grow even more.

"Oh, look, the lowlife, talentless loser, has a slut now," the masked man chuckled.

Hinata was shocked again when that peaceful exterior around Naruto instantly vanished and he whipped his head around to glare at the man. "…Okay, that was uncalled for. I can take it when people insult me, but I'll be damned if I let someone insult my friends!" He balled his fists.

"Like you could do anything. If you attack us, you'll be arrested for harming innocent civilians!" the mask retorted smugly.

"Hmm, the human has a point. We do not wish to get you into trouble, Naruto…but there's nothing preventing Hinata and I from beating the living crap out of you humans since we don't have the same ties to this village as you do!" Kikyo said and slammed a fist into the palm of her hand, flickers of flames lashing out when she struck her palm.

"W-What does that mean?" one civilian asked.

"It's the agreement I have with the Hokage. If I'm displeased or anyone, especially members of the Hyuga clan, attack me…I can retaliate anyway I see fit, and if I am punished, this village loses a Sage and my summoning contract with the Ifrits…plus, I happen to have a very rare dojutsu that was thought lost long ago. I don't think the Hokage would care if I beat the fuck out of idiots so long as she can keep my dojutsu and summons in the village, and I bet your council will agree since they praise anyone with a Kekkei Genkai more than simple scum!" Hinata lectured as that angry aura returned around her, her hair began to float up around her like a living thing.

"In other words, tiny human…you just got fucked!" Kikyo roared and charged right at the center of the crowd as she was surrounded by a sphere of fire.

They managed to dodge the dashing Ifrit, but only because Kikyo simply jogged toward them. If she had actually wanted to kill them, they would not have had time to move if she used her real speed. Being a female Ifrit, she was much faster and more agile than the bulky males of her kind who relied more on brute force because of their massive size. The masked man decided to forget his disguise and reveal his skills as a shinobi when he began performing a series of hand-signs.

When he was finished, he shouted out: _"Suiton: Kokuu no Jutsu!"_

"Wait, don't use that jutsu!" Naruto shouted out, recognizing it and immediately looked up above them.

Over their heads, a black cloud began to form and no sooner at it started to, black rain began to fall from its inky mass. Naruto was very familiar with this particular jutsu as he had the unfortunate luck of having it used on him during a past mission when he was younger. The black rain was actually a flammable oil and was very easy to ignite. It only took a second for him to realize what the shinobi had planned to do as the black cloud had formed right about his…and Hinata's head. He was going to blow them all up and use the Ifrit's flaming body to set it off. He probably assumed that if he killed the summoner, the Ifrit would vanish back to wherever she came from. The problem was that the oil would spread out too much and they were standing to close to Ichiraku, which would be greatly affected by the impending explosion.

Acting quickly, he shouted out to the Ifrit. "Get rid of your flames! It's gonna make this whole place explode!"

Upon hearing his warning, Kikyo stopped her flames and her mane of fire pooled down around her shoulders as it cooled down to the normal, long red hair. She looked at where the black rain landed and quickly deduced why he was so panicked about her flames.

"Nice try, but I've got other means to set this off!" the shinobi jeered and started another set of hand-signs.

Hinata's Rinnegan saw the pattern and knew immediately that he was about to use a fire-type jutsu. Letting out a battle-cry much like Kikyo, she charged straight for the shinobi and balled her hand into a fist at an alarming speed. The shinobi stopped his jutsu and guarded himself from her attack, thinking he could just brush her aside and then try his jutsu again, but when her delicate fist slammed into the arm he was going to block her punch, he suddenly cried out in agony as the bone snapped from the force of her blow and he was sent crashing back in a rolling heap of mangled limbs.

She snarled at the shinobi and turned to smile at Naruto for his aid, when she spotted one of the civilians using a flint over the oil. "Watch out!" she cried.

It was too late. The flint sparked and the oil went off and the whole area was blanketed by an explosion of fire. She only had a moment to panic that Naruto had gotten hurt by the explosion, not caring that the flames licked at her as fire could not harm her like it would a normal human being. She started moving toward where she last saw him and paused as when she noticed the dancing flames of the explosion begin to swirl to a specific location, as if something was sucking up all the fire. It kept being sucked up until all the fire was gone, disappearing down the throat of a crimson red toad with green markings starting from its head down its back. It wore an orange kimono with a white sash around its wide, thick waist. Although it was sitting down, the toad stood taller than all the humans around it.

It licked its long tongue across its long tongue and burped out a plum of black smoke. Sitting cross-legged on its board back was a smirking Naruto. He patted the toad's back while smiling approvingly, and said, "Thanks for the help Gamatui!"

"No problem, Naruto! Always love a good barbeque!" the toad replied and saluted up to him.

"Say hi to Gamatachi for me, okay?" Naruto asked.

"Sure thing! He's been wondering when you're gonna summon him again," Gamatui replied.

"Tell him, I'll probably summon him pretty soon. With the way things are heating up, no pun intended, I'll probably be asking for a lot of help from you guys," Naruto said and reached into his robe and produced a scroll. "Here's that sake I owe Gamabunta! I picked it up like I promised when I got back to Konoha." He handed the scroll to the toad after he hopped off its back. "This should keep him happy for a while."

"Oh, good! This'll stop his grumbling, too. He's been dying to taste some of Konoha's Fire lily wine! He'll really be happy to get this! See you later honorable Sage!" Gamatui exclaimed as he took the scroll.

"Ah, what did I say about using suffixes with me? Anyway, say hi to him for me when you give him that! Later!" Naruto said before he un-summoned the toad.

He turned back to the hushed crowd, not at all bothered that a moment ago they just tried to blow him and his friends up. "Oh, did I forget to mention that I've obtained the title of Toad Sage?"

"T-That's impossible! Only Master Jiraiya holds that title! A clan-less loser like you could never hope to achieve that title, especially for a genin!" the masked shinobi screamed in denial and pain, clutching his broken arm.

"Ranking means nothing to gain that title. It goes to whoever has proven themselves and it was the Toads themselves that made the decision to give him the title of Toad Sage," said Jiraiya from up on a rooftop, glaring down very angrily at the masked shinobi.

The shinobi panicked and pointed at Kikyo. "W-Wait, Master Jiraiya! Hear me out! That demon attacked us without any provocation!"

Tsunade strolled up beside her old teammate, making her presence known. "Oh? Is that right? And what is one of my shinobi doing out of uniform and dressed like a common thug?"

"H-Hokage-sama?!" the man squeaked.

She sliced the air with her hand. In moments, a squad of Anbu appeared around the masked shinobi and the civilians in the whole area.

"Naruto, Hinata, her summon and the workers of this restaurant are excused of this public disturbance. The rest of you are under arrest and will be questioned thoroughly!" Tsunade decreed and signaled to the Anbu. "Take them away!"

None of them had a chance to argue their innocence when they were all grabbed by an Anbu operative and were shunshined away. After the smoke from the multiple shunshins dissipated, Tsunade focused on the two young Sages.

"First day back in the village and already you're causing me trouble, brat!" Tsunade scowled, yet had the hint of a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.

"You know me, baa-chan! I always like to make a big entrance!" Naruto replied shamelessly.

A tick mark appeared on Tsunade's forehead and she shot the blonde a dirty glare, but coughed a bit to hide her annoyance with his chosen term to refer to her. She hated being called that and he knew full well, but then again it was better than what he called Jiraiya, which fit him perfectly because of his nasty habits. Yet she still had a village to run and she was the Hokage after all…

"Get your ass in my office before I ban you from Ichiraku for a week!" Tsunade snapped loudly.

The cocky blonde instantly paled with fear and to her astonishment, he saluted her and shunshined out of sight in a puff of smoke.

"Hmm, he has improved," Tsunade said approvingly from how he shunshined without using any hand-signs like a trained chunin or jonin could.

"You haven't seen anything, trust me," Jiraiya said with a scary grin.

That really made her nervous. She had seen may looks on her old teammate's face, some she really wished she'd never seen, like how he'd gawk at her chest size when he thought she wasn't looking, or how stupid he'd get when peeping on women while they bathed at a hot spring. She'd seen the deadly fighter he could really be when he faced down an enemy and the calm, wise one that she secretly wished he'd show more often, but this one…that type of grin on his face she had only seen when he wasn't playing around, when he truly believed everything he said…and she had grown wise enough to take it very seriously.

Averting her blushing look, she looked down at Hinata and Kikyo. "Report to my office in four hours, I will have your test ready by then," she said, then called forward Sparrow and gave him a note to give to the chef who ran the ramen stand that would state she personally would pay for the repairs to his stand, seeing that the fire had burned off the face of the restaurant and most of its drapes, then she shunshined into her office, where she found Naruto waiting for her as she had expected, standing relaxed and with that annoying foxy grin on his face.

"Good to see you, baa-chan!" Naruto greeted, waving at her happily.

She sighed back her irritation, not able to keep from smiling herself because of the infectious smile he himself wore. "Yeah, same here, you damn gaki…"

Naruto chuckled and waited for her to speak, something she was astonished as she half expected him to start ranting about what missions he would be given. In that simple patient moment, he should to her just how deeply he matured over the two and half years he spent with the perverted old toad. His stance should another thing to her and that was just how strong he really was. He radiated an inner calm, one she was familiar with when she first met the kid, but this time, it was ten-times more powerful, it a quiet strength and one that spoke volumes and she knew right then that he had worked very hard to gain it. For his loud, childish nature, Naruto was a pure genius of hard work and when he focused on something he was determined to master, there was nothing in this world that could stop him.

She could only wonder how Jiraiya had gotten him to take his training so serious enough to earn his Sage title. "So how was the trip, gaki? Did you actually learn anything around that horny toad?" she said just as Jiraiya appeared at her window.

"Hey!"

Naruto laughed heartily and scratched the back of his head, and smirked in a very disturbing manner. She recognized that mischievous look and was about to yell at him to not pull whatever prank he was about to pull, but she was too late.

He crossed his fingers and was surrounded in a puff of smoke. She expected the worse, some immature prank that would prove she had made a false assumption of him, but then she gasped when she saw the smoke clear out. There stood Naruto in a red and black trench coat very similar to the Yondaime's and a forehead protector like Jiraiya's only with the kanji for "Will" instead of "Oil" She did see it patched on the trench coat over his heart that marked him allied to the Toads. His hair was much longer than the henge he had oddly put up over himself and she was so amazed how much he looked like the Yondaime. Were it not for his whisker-like marks on his cheeks and his choice of colors, he'd have been an exact carbon-copy of the great Fourth himself.

"Sorry for the henge, baa-chan," he apologized softly. "I felt that it would be better to wait until you announced my status to the village before I got flaunting it around and start up trouble with the masses. Unfortunately, that all went out the window during that little incident when I summoned Gamatui. I'm sorry for the headache this is gonna cause you."

She was mind-blown by his fore-thinking. He was right, of course. Had the village seen him portraying himself like he was the Yondaime himself, it would no doubt cause a riot and the council would be all over her case for letting him do it. Had it worked, she'd have had time to plan how to break it to everyone and she was very pleased that the blonde was for once working with her, rather than causing her another headache with the grief this would indeed make for her. She smiled at him in admiration and then an idea popped into her head and she grinned in the exact same manner Naruto had just a moment ago.

"Say gaki? What do you say about helping me with a little test I need to make for someone today?"

**xXx**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any material retaining to it. I only take claim to the plot of this story, and only that.

**A/N: **Not much to say this time other than thank you for all your support and we look forward to hearing more from you all after reading this chapter. So please leave a nice review for us, okay? We'll be more likely to get another chapter done faster.

**xXx**

**Chapter 4**

It was a bit late in the afternoon when Hinata was given a summons from an Anbu messenger, stating she had to report to the arena at the center of the village. She had been ready for the messenger and wasted no time in making her way to the arena. Kikyo was ecstatic for the coming trial. It had been a long time since her kind had been known to the world and she was eager to show the humans just how powerful the Ifrit Clan really was. They shunshined to the arena, Hinata remembering its location from her childhood years and they appeared just at the gate entrance, where two chunin had been assigned to look for her and led her inside.

"The Hokage is waiting for you, please make your way to the center of the arena," the chunin had said once they led her to the fighting field.

She thanked them for leading her and she strolled out to the plain field that made up the fighting field. It was almost pleasant if one didn't think about the amount of blood that was split in this place for the judgment of the Hokage and the people's enjoyment. Hinata was not at all squeamish about spilling any of her own blood, she just felt sorry for the poor sod whose blood was definitely going to be staining the ground after she was finished showing the fruits of her Sage-training.

She hardly squinted her eyes when they were flooded once more by the bright sunlight and looked up to see the entire arena was full of people, mostly shinobi who were lucky to not be on a mission outside of the village. Many looked down at her in awe and some skepticism. Naturally, they assumed that she was still the weak, timid little girl that had gone missing so many years ago, and she could bet her clan only strengthen that image with their contempt for her existence. Oh, how she was looking forward to showing just how wrong they had been about her. Up on in the Hokage seat, Tsunade and her elders sat in their respective seats and she gazed down at her with a welcoming smile.

"Thank you for being punctual, Fire Sage," Tsunade greeted, honoring her with her title to enforce it to everyone.

"Hokage-sama," Hinata replied back and bowed her head faintly.

Tsunade let her eyes wander over the crowd to get their reaction, not at all surprised to see the stoic unreadable faces from her shinobi. They were all staying open-minded until they saw Hinata's power for themselves. Many shinobi had died because they underestimated their enemy and many had learned that even a genin can defeat a powerful jonin if luck and chance was on their side. The civilian portion that made up the audience was typical as many were already assuming they knew how the girl was going to end up after this trial was done, figuring she had no chance against whoever the Hokage may have chosen to fight her.

Tsunade said a silent prayer that Hinata was all she seemed to be, not wishing to give the snobbish citizens he satisfaction of looking down upon one of her newest shinobi. It was horrible enough with how they treated one of the village's most renown prankster of the village, it would only make things more difficult, especially if another incident like what happened earlier that day.

"Welcome to Konoha and our ranks, Hinata. Today we will see if you are indeed a Sage as you claim and to gauge just where in our ranks you will benefit your village the most," Tsunade had started to announce, speaking loudly so everyone could hear her.

"I welcome the challenges to come, Hokage-sama," Hinata replied with look of pure confidence on her face.

That made Tsunade smile and she continued. "We will test you in specific fields to see just how advanced your training has taken you with your time with the Ifrit Clan. Also, we will be testing your Dojutsu to see if it matches the legends that have been carried to this day."

Hinata sent a bit of chakra to her eyes to give them a slight purple glow, signaling she was ready for anything that was thrown at her.

Seeing that she was, Tsunade shot up her arm and made a cutting gesture in front of her. Four cloaked people appeared on the fighting field before Hinata, each one's identity hidden behind a mask and hood.

"These four will be your opponents, you will only know their identity when you begin fighting them, and…"

"The one of the far left is a Hyuga…I remember that chakra signature, too. It's nice to see you again, Neji-san," Hinata interrupted as her eyes focused on the cloaked figure standing on her left.

The one she spoke to stepped forward and threw off his mask and hood, seeing no point in hiding his identity now that he was called out. The only response she got from him was an expected narrow glare from her ex-clansmen.

"I see this is gonna be how we figured with your old clan, huh?" Kikyo uttered, glaring right back at Neji when he shifted his gaze to regard the Ifrit distastefully.

"Consorting with a monster like that…you truly have sunk low, you disgraceful sow," Neji said rudely.

Only Kikyo noticed the cloaked figure on the far right flinch slightly, curling in one fight. She raised a curious eyebrow at the person, then turned back to the rude Hyuga. "I had hoped there was more honorable people in the Hyuga clan, but it seems Hinata was the only decent thing to come out of it. The rest of you are snobbish bores."

"Keep quiet, you demon. I will not be addressed by a beast like you," Neji retorted as he raised his head to stare down at her.

He had expected them both to get angry after his insult, but all he could see was that he somehow made them look disappointed.

"I had expected my ex-clansmen to have a better retort than that, but if all you're going to do is make petty insults, then we've talked enough. I will not waste my valuable time talking to a stuck up prick, especially one from the Branch family," Hinata said snidely in return, brushing a wild lock of her hair that had fallen over her shoulder back impatiently.

"You do will do well to respect your betters, you disgrace," Neji warned.

"Neji! You will conduct this test with full professionalism!" Tsunade warned. She already had a very low opinion of the Hyuga clan, and seeing it even ran in the Branch side did not make the clan look anywhere near redeemable in her eyes if this same attitude carried through all the members of the clan.

Neji bowed to the Hokage, but the angry glare did not leave his face.

"Since you're identity has already been revealed. We will start this test with you facing off against Hyuga Neji, rank Jonin," Tsunade said, adding in his rank so there was no misunderstanding with everyone who didn't know the boy's level.

"A pity it wasn't your father, Hinata. I'd have loved to thrash that man like I did last time!" Kikyo said with a feral smirk, pounding a fist into her right hand, flickers of fire flashing out around it.

"Call off your beast, Hinata. Or do you need her to help you fight. I must say that you probably will need her if you want any chances of beating me," Neji sneered.

"Kikyo is her own person and she does as she pleases, but if it'll make you feel better," Hinata turned to Kikyo. "I'll deal with him myself, you just hang back and enjoy the show."

"Beat his ass, my girl!" Kikyo cheered and made her way to the edge of the field to lean against its thick, tall wall.

"You should have kept her. You just lost your only chance to win…you cannot beat my eyes, Hinata. Fate has decreed you will lose this day to me!" Neji preached as he fell into the typical Jyuken stance.

Hinata just scoffed and didn't fall into a fighting stance, just crossed her arms and gave him a bored, lazy glance.

"The remaining three cloaked fighters depart from the field, then I shall commence this first match to begin," Tsunade ordered.

The three cloaked fighters vanished in a puff of smoke and reappeared on top of the wall to watch from a safe distance. Tsunade then waved her arm up above her and made a chopping slash with her hand as she brought it down. "Hajime!"

Everyone held their breath to the impending battle, but were disappointed when Hinata made no move toward Neji. She just continued to look bored.

"The fight is already over. You will lose," Neji stated and seeing that Hinata wasn't going to make the first move, he decided to end this in one strike.

Moving with the speed that helped him achieve the rank of jonin, he vanished from normal sight. The trained and experienced eye followed his movement, some still losing sight of him and applauding him silently for his impressive speed. It wasn't surprising that he could move so fast. He was trained by the famous Beast of Konoha, the greatest taijutsu specialist, Maito Gai! The man was renowned for both his speed and powerful strength, only rivaled by the Hokage herself. It appeared to the experienced shinobi who have seen Maito Gai in action, that anyone who had the…misfortune…to receive his insane method of training; they'd be powerhouses in their own right.

Neji allowed himself a smile of triumph as he closed in on the deserter, deciding already to strike her heart and end this match and show how inferior she still was. He remembered the stories that the clan still talk about of Hinata. How pathetic her skills in the clan's style of fighting and feeble her usage of the Byakugan had been. She could barely use it to its true advantage and always ended up failing and losing, disgracing her family with her utter uselessness. How could a failure like her think she could improve all on her own and be strong enough to face a true prodigy of the powerful Hyuga Clan?

His palm shot up right for her stomach inside of her chest, thinking it would be better to humiliate her a bit before he ended this pointless match. Fate had determined she was a loser. It was time that someone reminded her of her place. What he did not expect was for Hinata to look right at him, even with the speed he was coming at her and snort just before sidestepping out of his striking path and elbowed him right across the face, bashing right against his hitai-ate. The metal plate of his headband could not protect him from the surprising strength that traveled with the blow, bending it and almost embedding it straight through his skull. He let his right leg go limb, so the force of her strike sent him tumbling away and he controlled it as he felling to a rolling pattern and stumbled back to his feet, staring at her in shock.

"I imagine you were thinking about just how weak I used to be, right?" Hinata stated as she slowly came out of her striking stance. "You were thinking that it would be no problem for someone who was fully trained in the Jyuken and knew just how to use the Byakugan to fight someone who didn't receive that same training, correct?" Her Rinnegan flared up and she snarled some as rage started to flash over her face. "You are no better than the bastard I call a father, but you are the worse. You think you're better than anyone because you've made it so fate was always on your side, and that it gives you the excuse to use your oh-so mighty skills to justify your actions. You truly are trash."

"That's strong talk from a deserter from her own family! Why had you not returned if you had not died, huh?! If you had gotten so strong, then why did you decide to try and defy your fate and not return to your rightful place?" Neji retorted.

"Because I knew I would only be stunted if I continued to remain as a Hyuga. The clan's ways were too inhibited by its own traditions, there was no room for growth or improvement. The Ifrits saved me from Hiashi's wrath and took me in and showed me how one can truly become strong, not by birthright, not by born talent…but by hard work and determination. I have nearly destroyed myself many times during my training, I continued to push myself even when almost all my bones were broken! And I learned through all that strife that our clan possessed a true power far greater than our precious Byakugan," Hinata replied, gesturing to her glowing Rinnegan.

"There are no eyes stronger than the Byakugan. You lying and stating that you possess the Rinnegan is just a pathetic attempt to hide what you really are," Neji countered with a sneer.

"You truly are blind and ignorant. If you are considered the best the Hyuga clan had hoped to offer…then they have truly fallen," Hinata said snidely and started to slowly take on a fighting stance.

It was a unique stance as she crotched down on her knees and spread out her arms as if she were a bear and hunched down her neck some. With her horned head protector and her glowing Rinnegan, she almost looked exactly like the creature she claimed to summon.

"You will still fail, no matter what you do," Neji boasted, trying to fix his bent headband and finding it wouldn't settle without scarping his forehead. In irritation, he ripped off his hitai-ate and exposing the hated seal his clan was famous for implementing on its Branch members for all to see.

He took his stance and with his palms posed to strike, he once again charged at Hinata, pushing more chakra into his legs to move faster. She could not be faster than him, it was just impossible!

His faith in his skills was rewarded when he managed to land a series of blows on Hinata. Apparently, she wasn't as fast as him and he took full advantage of it as he worked on closing off all of her Tenketsu and cut off her ability to use her chakra. He worked on her arms, not wanting to take the chance she might try to use the Jyuken on him in case her stance was a feint. He moved up her arms and left no mercy in his attacks as he closed off all the Tenketsu points in her torso and finishing up with a powerful palm strike to her chest. She took all of his attacks, not able to keep up with the speed of his arms and took all the damage.

To everyone who knew the Hyuga clan's style of fighting, this match was over. Hinata had made the most fatal mistake she could have made: she let herself fight close-range with a Hyuga. There was no way she could continue any of her matches now that she had all her Tenketsu were closed, this had turned out to be a very anti-climactic fight.

Neji smirked at his easy victory and looked up at Hiashi, seeing his approving gaze as he bowed his head ever so slightly to his nephew. He was finally going to get what he had longed for since the day he was branded. His uncle had worked it so a Hyuga would be used to test the exiled heiress. Should Neji defeat her, and stating that he will, then Hiashi would recognize him as true Hyuga and he would personally remove the Caged Bird Seal from his forehead and welcome him to the Main family. He didn't even bat an eye when his uncle had stressed that if he landed a fatal blow on his daughter, he would only get the seal off him that much faster.

He looked up to the Hokage to call the match and declare him the winner…but a moment of deja'vu and he turned to look back at Hinata, who he had expected to be lying on the ground bleeding out of her mouth and eyes from all the internal damage he inflicted on her. What greeted him was Hinata smirking at him and straightening her wrinkled coat. "You have trained hard, Neji. That was very impressive."

"Wha…How? How can you still be standing after all that?!" Neji said, fear creeping into his voice. There was only one person in the world that he had seen withstand that kind of barrage, and that was only because of some stranger source of chakra that flooded his cut off chakra coils that reopened.

Using his Byakugan quickly, he saw that NONE of her Tenketsu were closed, and in fact, her chakra coils were even brighter than before. What he did see was that the chakra was literally spiraling inside her and he saw a shell of chakra surrounding her body.

"How did you survive the Jyuken!? Your chakra is even stronger now!" Neji shouted.

"It is thanks to one of the Paths of the Rinnegan: The Preta Path. It's perfect when dealing with people who reply on their chakra to deal damage in their taijutsu style, leaving the Jyuken completely useless against me," Hinata revealed, knowing this little fact would piss off her entire ex-clan like nothing else had before.

Neji stood completely frozen. An ability that rendered the Hyuga's main fighting technique completely mute? That was a nightmare all in itself to any respective member of his clan. His chances of victory had just been rendered near to impossible.

"There must be a weakness to such a jutsu as that!" Neji stated, hoping to see some hint of hesitation in Hinata to prove his theory.

All he got was a wider smile. "This jutsu allows me to not only absorb it but supply it into my own chakra pools, and then I can apply it to my own attacks. This means my ex-cousin…that I'll never run out of chakra so long as I have an opponent to battle."

Neji's felt his body start to shake with fear. How could he match such a power like that? Was her Rinnegan truly more powerful that his Byakugan? Wait? If she is can only absorb attacks that relied on chakra, then if he resorted to only physical attacks, then he could still use his own chakra to enhance his speed and strength. It was unorthodox, and it was only because of his insane training with his old sensei, Maito Gai, but he had to take the chance and abandon his traditional style of fighting if he wanted to beat her. This was no longer a matter of superiority anymore. Hinata had come prepared and she had the perfect defense against anyone in their clan. He could not deny that fact.

But that left her the perfect threat to his clan. If her eyes allowed that kind of power, then she could easily overshadow the Byakugan and any user of it, and deep down he knew his clan was not going to permit her to continue wielding such power, unless she were to rejoin her true place.

"Hinata, I will take back what I said about you. You are not a worthless deserter as I first thought, but you should realize that exposing such power will gain you enemies. It would be to your benefit if you simply returned to the Hyuga clan and take your rightful place as its heiress. You belong to be with your own people, your own family," Neji said, figuring to try and negotiate, even if he was to lose this match, he would try to gain a win for his clan.

Hinata regarded him silently as she folded her arms under her busty chest, boring her ringed, glowing eyes into him as if staring straight into his soul. Maybe she was doing exactly that. The Rinnegan was rumored to hold the power over life and death, meaning she could possibly see into the souls of anyone she choice, and right now, Neji felt like his entire soul was completely bared to her.

Finally, Hinata had stated to speak. "Neji…I admit that I never expected anyone to actually take back any of the insults they've thrown at me. But I know you were actually very sincere when you make that declaration, and were it not for the rest of the clan, I might accept your offer…" she looked up to see her furious father glaring down at them both. Next to him, she saw all the elders that had been her personal tormentors bear their rage down on Neji's unsuspecting head. It was clear to her that they just wanted Neji to kill her, not try and win her over. One of them even began to form a very familiar hand-sign and Hinata felt panic rise in her chest. "NEJI!" she shouted out to warn.

Neji blinked for a moment to why she suddenly looked so scared, then his entire world became nothing but pain. He remembered it, like an old enemy he never could overcome. It sizzled into his brain like acid and as the seal forced upon his forehead began to fry his brain. He fell to his knees and cradling his head, screaming out in pure torment.

Hinata rushed to him, forgetting her rage for the sake of helping her cousin, and kneeled down to his side and placed her hands on his head. "Neji-kun, Neji-kun!"

"Argh…It—It won't stop!" Neji screamed in agony, his eye rolling around uncontrollably in his skull's eye sockets.

Tsunade was up on her feet and glaring at the Hyuga elders. "Stop this at once!"

"He failed to perform his duty…I am merely reminding him of his place," the old elder replied coldly, not at all appearing to try and stop performing the jutsu.

"You will stop this now, or else! You are killing one of my shinobi!" Tsunade roared.

"He is a Branch member of the Hyuga, his loyalties lie to his clan and we will pass judgment on our people," the old elder retorted and forced more chakra into the jutsu.

Suddenly one of the robed fighters chosen to compete against Hinata appeared right in front of him and a fist same sailing out from a sleeve and punched the elder right across the jaw, knocking him completely out and canceling the fatal jutsu. The robed fighter then vanished from a shunshin when the other elders tried to retaliate and returned to his place amongst his fellow fighters, getting a shoulder pat from the tallest of them.

"Thank you," Tsunade said to the robed fighter, who merely nodded to her.

"Hiashi, as you have seen fit to take control of the outcome of this fight, Neji loses by default and Hinata is the winner. Now get out of here before I pummel you all into the ground!" Tsunade ordered venomously.

Hiashi glared hatefully at her and then down at Hinata and Neji. "Remove your hands from him, you disgrace. He will return with us."

Hinata pulled her cousin into her arms and glared at her father with so much rage that even Kami might have flinched. "You will only finish what you started."

"If that is to be his fate, then so be it…he belongs to us," Hiashi stated firmly.

"No! No more! I will not stand for you treating anymore of our family like objects to throw away as you please!" Hinata shouted back and looked own at Neji, specifically the black seal branded on his forehead. Her Rinnegan began to glow as she started to channel her chakra and she brought her right hand up to his head, placing it right over the seal. "I cannot stop the pain that will come…but know this will be the last time you will have to suffer from it, Neji."

Neji was too weak and distorted to make any kind of reply. Her hand began to light up with blue chakra that soon burst into bluish-white flames as she pressed her palm down hard on the seal. The moment she did, Neji ripped out screaming like he had when his seal was activated. He withered under her touch and his entire body started to spasm.

"What are you doing?! You would kill your own cousin, your own blood?!" Hiashi uttered in disbelief.

Hinata locked her imposing eyes on her father and said with a calm, tranquil voice. "I'm freeing him from your chains, Hiashi…he will no longer be caged by your will no more."

Her words became clear to everyone when the flames around her hand stopped and Neji was once again calm, lying in her lap in exhaustion from his ordeal. Then the greatest shock came when she removed her hand and exposed clean, perfectly smooth skin untainted by ink.

"Impossible?!" Hiashi roared, seeing the seal gone from his nephew.

"I have trained myself for the time I would return to my true home. I did not waste my time just making myself strong. I also worked out a way to purge this world of that filthy seal our clan has always forced upon those we've considered inferior. The Old One of the Ifrit Clan had trained me in the ways of the Secret Flame and showed me how to purify even the most evil of curses, or in this case…the Caged Bird Seal," Hinata revealed to everyone, hugging her cousin comfortably. "Your seal will powerless now, Hiashi…your precious seal has become useless for I swore when I learned how to counter it that I would remove it from anyone who had been forced to bare it. I give this offer to any Hyuga who is a part of the Branch family. If you want your freedom, and then come to me and I will gladly rid you of your chains!"

Hiashi nervously looked around to see that some of the Branch members had mingled in with the crowd, some had already started to leave the stadium to no doubt spread the news to other Branch members. His daughter had in this single moment just robbed the Hyuga clan of its control and its strength.

"You would expose our people for others to steal our power?! You wretched creature!" one of the elders cursed, pointing a gnarled bony finger at her.

"Yeah, whatever," Hinata grunted and picked up her cousin and carried him over to Kikyo, who quietly accepted the knocked out jonin. "Watch him and make sure no one but Tsunade-sama and anyone she tells you to trust near him."

"Hai, Hinata-kun," Kikyo whispered and cradled Neji so he would be more comfortable in her long, board arms.

Tsunade in that entire time was smiling down at the crazy girl. This might cause her a migraine later, but nothing a good bottle of sake wouldn't cure. "Hiashi, you've been warned. Leave this arena now before I have you and those fucking geezers all arrested."

"Hokage-sama, you cannot allow this catastrophe to happen! She has gone too far!" an elder shouted in rage.

"Anbu," Tsunade said and raised a hand.

Two entire, fully armed squadron of Anbu appeared in a single puff of smoke appeared around Hiashi and the elders, all of them with their swords posed at their throats and other vital points of their bodies.

"Escort them out of my stadium…but detain them just outside for say…two hours," Tsunade commanded and let her hand drop lazily to her hip. She figured that the two hour period would allow some of the Branch members she saw leaving the stadium to spread the news of the cure to the seal. She had always hated the seal and was more than willing to aid in any way she could to help be rid of it finally.

In silent fury, Hiashi and the entire elder council of his clan were forced to leave the stadium. While they had been, Tsunade had quickly gone down with her assistant, Shizune, to check on Neji, personally. She ran a quick diagnosis of his condition, seeing that he suffered from partial cerebral-neural damage. She immediately had Shizune shunshin Neji to the hospital to be treated before any permanent brain damage settled. She wasn't surprised when she saw Neji's teammates and his sensei, who had been among the crowd, stand up and left to go to the hospital. Giving it an afterthought, she called a few Anbu, mainly Sparrow, and placed him charge of seeing that nothing harmful happened to Neji. The masked Branch member stole a glance at Hinata and hesitated for a moment, but whatever he might have wanted to do was overruled by his loyalty to the Hokage and did as she ordered, leaving to pick the right people to help him protect Neji.

Once everyone had settled down from the overwhelming situation, Tsunade took her seat back up in the Hokage booth and called for order. "I admit that wasn't looking forward to seeing so much drama happen during the first match, but thank you all for your patience and understanding! But there will be no more reckless outbursts or interruptions like the Hyuga clan have done, or the punishment will be more severe."

Seeing no one was going to challenge her warning, she nodded in gratitude and continued, "Will the next challenger step forth!"

Next to the tall man from his right, the robed fighter descended to the fighting arena and stood ready. Hinata put her worries for her cousin aside as she knew he was now in good hands. Her personal feelings were back under control and she readied herself for whatever this fighter may try.

Tsunade chopped at the air. "Hajime!"

The fighter brought a bandaged wrapped hand up to the front of his or her hood and the air began to shift and vibrate around the fighter, then from the feet up, the fighter began to disappear from sight. Hinata only widen a fraction of her eyes as she realized what had happened. The user had used a genjutsu to mask his or her presence. From behind her a tree began to grow at an astonishing rate and its branches and vines wrapped around her body, binding her almost into the growing tree. The robed attacker slowly began to grow out of the tree itself with a kunai posed to strike her neck. Hinata smirked and she melted right into the tree, leaving her attacker baffled, and then the tree and the attacker vanished from sight.

Hinata was standing over the downed robed fighter, a fist thrusted out where she had struck the fighter. "Genjutsu is nice, but you should have a better defense when someone breaks out of it."

"How did you counter my genjutsu?" a feminine voiced replied back to her as her attack removed her hood to reveal an exotically beautiful woman with crimson eyes and long curly black hair.

"The Rinnegan cannot be fooled by genjutsu much like the Byakugan and the Sharingan. You're biggest mistake was underestimating my eyes," Hinata replied simply and tightened her fist. "Now is this going to continue or are you just going to resort to genjutsu this entire match, because if you are…then this will be a very short next."

The woman looked very annoyed that she was beaten so easily. She obviously was someone who took pride in her chosen field and was she up against the average foe, she'd be a formidable opponent, but like Neji, she greatly underestimated Hinata. People from the crowded had started to boo at the short-lived match and the jonin started to look down in shame. That is until Tsunade slammed her hand on the armrest of her seat, silencing everyone.

"Remember this is a trial to test a Sage," Tsunade reminded the people and giving the kunoichi some dignity back.

The shinobi portion of the crowded nodded in understanding, shooting glares at the normal citizens. Ignoring the crowd, Hinata helped the woman up to her feet, and then asked her, "What is your name? And why did you volunteer for this battle?"

"My name is Yuhi Kurenai and I'm the village's top Genjutsu expert," Kurenai replied and raised her eyebrow up at her. "Why did you ask that last part?"

Hinata looked at her up and down, her strange eyes focusing right on the woman's abdomen. "Because you put yourself and your child at risk."

"W-What?" Kurenai uttered, bringing a hand to her mouth.

Hinata gave her a bright, warm smile. "You can take my word, but you better go have yourself examined just so you can confirm for yourself."

"Oh-h, Kami!" Kurenai whispered and looked randomly up in the crowd and paused when a breaded man sat up from his seat and with a look of shock on his own face.

The man shunshined down to the fighting field and took Kurenai into his arms and the two whispered privately, then they hurried off the field, more than likely going to the hospital but for completely different reasons.

Tsunade, as well as everyone was gapped mouth that Yuhi Kurenai had just left the stadium Sarutobi Asuma…the son of the late Sandaime: Sarutobi Hiruzen. She had heard rumors that the son of the Sandaime was good friends with Kurenai and had a sneaky suspicion the two were more than friends, but nothing so serious as to have been having a serious intimate relationship.

"This day is not turning out anyway like I thought was going to…" Tsunade uttered, getting a confirming nod from the elders, even Danzo who looked semi-shocked. She cleared her throat and prayed the next matches would be drama-free. She really wanted to see Hinata become serious to really gauge her abilities and she regretted picking the first two to face off against her. "Let's just start the next match already…"

The tall robed fighter jumped down to the fighting field and decided to forsake hiding his identity and removed his robe, revealing a male jonin with gravity-defying silver hair and wearing his hitai-ate over his left eye and a mask that covered the rest of his face, leaving on his right eye visible. He stuffed his hands into his pocket and shot an eye-smile at Hinata.

"Yo!" he greeted.

Hinata's calm posture changed instantly when she took in this jonin. He seemed a bit like a goof…but there was something that set her sixth sense on edge, cautioning her to not take this man lightly. He was too relaxed for her likening and she caught his smiling eye looking at her critically. He was sizing her up and unlike her cousin or the woman, this guy looked like he might actually be a challenge.

Tsunade smirked as she saw things were finally getting serious. "Let the third match begin." She raised her hand and for the third time chopped at the air. "Hajime!"

The man shifted slightly on his feet and his eye-smile disappeared. "Since I already know your name, I'll go ahead and tell you mine. I'm Hatake Kakashi. Let's take off right." He reached and pulled up his hitai-ate, revealing he still had an eye, but until his normal dark orb, the one that locked on her was red with three tomoes around the pupil, a scar ran down his face, where it looked like someone had slashed his eye out.

"You have the Sharingan?" Hinata said.

Kakashi nodded and shrugged. "It's come in handy…now we start for real."

Hinata smirked as she tightened her firsts, the bones in her knuckles cracking loudly. Kikyo pushed away from the wall and came over to stand by Hinata, giving a feral grin at Kakashi. "This one is going to be fun to fight. You might need me."

"I agree. Let's show them just how powerful the teachings of the Ifrit truly are!" Hinata said and slammed a fist into her palm.

Kakashi was a little taken back by the massive feeling of confidence in this girl and the chakra that was filling the air around her, which he could see thanks to his Sharingan. It almost reminded him of someone he knew very well. Deciding go first as had the precious two fighters. Kakashi's hands became a blur of motion as he performed an impressive ninjutsu at record-breaking speed.

A mist began to collect around them form the moisture in the air and began to surround the field. Hinata narrowed her eyes as she could see the mist was heavily infused with chakra, rending her vision almost null and she imagined he did it to try and keep her from using her Rinnegan to see whatever he might be planning. She had the perfect counter to that and all it would consist for her to do was use her chakra to super heat the air and vaporize all the moisture in the mist in an instant. The technique would be safe enough to use as the heat would immediately fade away once the mist was all gone, but it would distort her opponent from the rapid change in climate.

She had begun to build up the reacquired chakra to begin the technique, but then her instincts alerted her to danger and she moved immediately away from the spot she was standing. She barely saw it but she got the vague outline of Kakashi shooting up from the ground with a hand stretched out to grab where he believed her to be. Changing slight tactics, she pooled her chakra into her hands and concentrated it with her fire affinity to create a cone of heat to blast him. The heat wave struck him dead on and as it evaporated the mist in front of her, she was mildly surprised when he burst into water and evaporated into vapors after he crashed to the ground.

"A Mizu Bunshin…so that's how it's going to be," Hinata murmured to herself.

It only made since that he would try using water-based techniques to counter her fire. She was deemed the Fire Sage and it would lead one to suspect she only specialized in only fire jutsu. A short roar and the rest of the mist dissipated after Kikyo had had enough of being obstructed by the mist. "I hate misty days! It sparks out my hair!"

Hinata giggled despite the situation and ducked in time to mess her head from being impaled by a kunai. She looked over her shoulder and saw Kakashi sitting comfortably on one of the branches of the lone tree that grew on the field. He waved lazily and smiled at her with his eyes. "I see you're not easily fooled."

"Are you done playing games?" Hinata asked, placing her hands on her hips.

Kakashi shrugged and pointed up. "Hmm, one more."

Hinata immediately looked up to see another Kakashi preforming a rapid series of hand-signs and water from the water she had reduced to steam up high in the air was cooling back down and reforming into water and the head of a dragon began to slowly form.

"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!" Kakashi announced once the dragon was big enough to cause a serious threat.

It had started out slow going, as it took a great amount of chakra control to pull water out of the air to use any kind of water jutsu; a skill that very few could pull off like the Nidaime, Senju Tobirama. But unlike the Nidaime who could call upon massive amounts of water. Kakashi only managed to make a water dragon just somewhat bigger than himself, knowing he did not have much time once he was discovered, cursing his own bunshin for ratting him out. He had taken advantage of the steam that had quickly risen into the air and running up the wall and jumping as high as he could, it gave him just enough time to collect what remained of the moisture to create his attack, wishing someone had been a bit more sensible and put a pool of water in the field for those that favored water-based jutsus.

Hinata stared at the roaring dragon and waited for the dragon to unleash its wrath. Not wanting to waste any more time, Kakashi fired his jutsu and the dragon eagerly snaked its way down to the ground. Hinata faced the jutsu head on and thrust her hands up into the air and an invisible force vibrated upward and smashed the head of the dragon to harmless water once it was almost on her. Kakashi performed a quick substitution with his traitorous Bunshin, letting it pay for its betrayal by taking whatever kind of attack she had used in his stead.

He sat on the tree branch and watched with amazement as Hinata's attack had reduced the water dragon to small pools of water around her and his clone exploded into water in matters of seconds. He whistled, "Wow, that was something."

Hinata brought her arms down as she looked to him. "You haven't seen anything yet."

"Can't wait," Kakashi smiled and jumped out of the tree and regarded her cautiously.

For what he could ascertain from her methods, she could absorb her opponent's chakra and she could somehow use some kind of force to repel attacks if she wanted. He concluded it was just another ability the Rinnegan granted her. It only made her an even more difficult to fight if he couldn't rely on long-distance attacks. Getting in close was suicide now. She could unleash that force she demonstrated on him at any time, so directing fighting was out of the question. Genjutsu was completely useless against her, so there was no point in wasting time to try and trap her in one, and his expertise lied more in ninjutsu, anyway. He couldn't keep wasting chakra on making Bunshins since he was using his Sharingan eye to give him any edge to counter what she was going to do, and as long as he kept using it, his chakra would deplete itself before and he couldn't turn it off like real Dojutsu-users. His was just an implant given to him from a dear, departed friend, so he did not have the right genes to turn it on or off like the Sharingan's real users, the Uchiha, could.

As it was he had trained himself back to his prime and beyond and he was confident that he had reached Kage-level of power, so he could keep going longer than he used to, even with his eye constantly draining him when he uncovered it, it was still a problem if he didn't end his fight before he ran out of chakra. There had to be a weak point he could exploit.

While he had been thinking about the best course to engage in a matter of seconds, Hinata was moving in to finally take the offensive. Fire began to collect around her hands and she came at Kakashi and started striking at him. He dodged as best he could, avoiding as much direct contact with her flaming hands as best he could, jamming his palms into her elbows to kill the force of her attack when he couldn't dodge them in time. Then there was the girl's summons. The Ifrit hadn't really shown too much enthusiasm in the fight, but he was guessing she was waiting for Hinata's orders, like any summon would do. Judging from her physical appearance, she might rely mostly on taijutsu combined with fire techniques like Hinata had been implementing.

As this was a test to gauge her power of a Sage, he would have to force her to use her summons just to see how powerful they really were, and since he stay his ninjutsu wasn't getting him anywhere fast, he needed to change his tactics and get her distracted enough for him to get in a finishing blow. Deciding on what needed to be done, he reached into his weapon pouch and pulled out two kunai in one hand, then much to everyone's shock, he ran the kunai's bladed edge across his foreman, coating them with his blood.

"Is he actually injuring himself?" Kikyo uttered in shock.

Hinata remained silent as she watched what the masked nin was going to do after inflicting himself with that wound.

With the bloody kunai in his hand, he threw them at amazing speeds, but not at Hinata as the crowd would have believed. After his arm launched the two kunai, he quickly reached into his vest and pulled out a scroll and began preforming a set of hand-signs with the scroll placed expertly on top of his hands, then swung it open and dipped his thumb over the bloody wound on his arm and ran it across the inscription written inside. "Let's see how you manage with this!" he said as he finished his jutsu.

Hinata widened her eyes as she recognized the technique he was using and quickly tried to jump away. The two kunai that she had almost ignored impaled close to her position and she just got her feet off the ground when from the earth, eight dogs tunneled out with their jaws snapping viciously for her. She got passed some of them, but three of the dogs had been lucky and got their jaws around her left leg and right arm. The one that got her arm was a wild eyed dog with red fur. The two that got her leg was an orange furred dog with black sunglasses and one with bandage wrappings around his neck and head. Their fangs were extremely sharp and painful, but Hinata had kept a serious expression on her face as she continued through the air with the dogs that had latched on her in tow.

The remaining dogs no sooner landed on the ground and turned to her to attack. Kikyo had decided was now her time to help and appeared before her summoner and roared at the dogs. The roar was thunderous and it startled the dogs enough to halt in their pursuit and Kikyo began to conjure a massive ball of fire and launched it right into the middle of the group of dogs. They jumped way to avoid being it, but as soon as the ball touched the earth, it exploded and sent them all flying raggedly away and they poofed out of existence, returning to wherever they came from. Kikyo then went over to Hinata and worked on removing the growling dogs still biting into her limbs.

While they were working on that, Kakashi was once again rapidly making hand-signs and then held his right hand, palm facing up, as he gripped the wrist with his left hand. As he did, the air began to chirp like a thousand angry birds and lightning began to spark from his right hand. With his Sharingan firmly locked on the Ifrit's back, Kakashi started running at speeds faster than he had previously shown he was capable of.

"CHIDORI!" Kakashi shouted as he called out his attack, a trail of lightning cutting right through the earth and splitting it in his wake.

To everyone it happened in a matter of seconds, but to the two Dojutsu users, their enhanced vision slowed down the moment and their minds were rapidly taking in everything. Hinata saw his target was not her, but Kikyo from the direction he was coming at them. He was going to take out her summon to increase his chances of winning. What he did not count on was that to Hinata, Kikyo was more than just a summons and a tool to use to fight with; she was the closest thing to a mother and her first real friend. Fueled by her motivation to protect her friend, Hinata channeled her chakra through her body and the barrier she used to absorb Neji's chakra and her Rinnegan flashed a burning purple. The result that happen was instantaneous. The barrier around her that absorbed chakra worked to drain the chakra from the dogs since they were making direct contact with her, weakening their grip around her and they released her as they passed out from chakra exhaustion and poofed back to where they were summoned.

Hinata thrust her hand out just under Kikyo's left arm she called upon another ability of her Rinnegan.

Kakashi was almost on Kikyo when he suddenly felt himself being lifted off the ground and his momentum sailed right over the pair and he realized he was heading straight for the arena wall. "What the?!" he managed to say right before his hand buried into the wall.

"You shouldn't have tried to hurt my friend," Hinata said lowly as her body flared up with a flame-like aura of chakra.

"Heh…I'm sorry?" Kakashi laughed nervously as he tried to pull his hand free.

"Oh, you're gonna be sorry…for sure," Hinata promised as her hair started to float around her as her chakra flared up more around her. Next to her Kikyo's mane of hair ignited into mess of angry, red flames.

"Oh…Kami," Kakashi whimpered as he felt the killing intent practically oozing off the two angry women.

He expected to be blasted by that strange force she used to null out his water dragon, or for the two women to come charging at him and inflict the fury only a woman out seeking for righteousness upon perverts and men who royally piss them off. He'd seem far too many examples between two students of his and always been able to outrun the women that wanted to beat his ass for anything perverted he did…which he did by reading an infamous book series that was pretty much slightly above normal porn.

They decided to go with the latter as they both leapt into the air and started pummeling him like crazy, latching onto the wall by channeling chakra through their feet to stick to the solid surface. Their fists held no mercy as they landed one punch after another and did not stop until Hinata and Kikyo started to feel cold wetness around their fists. When she realized that little fact, she stopped beating Kakashi and groaned and glared at the Mizu Bunshin they had been beating the crap out of. Her eyes scanned the field and she spotted the mess of silver hair peeking out from behind the single tree.

"You're really scary, you know that?" Kakashi uttered.

Hinata stopped Kikyo and pointed over to the real Kakashi. The Ifrit growled at seeing the real one had escaped his due punishment, then backhanded the clone with her fist, completely splattering its head and ending its short lived existence. "Take your beating like a man, human!"

"Nope, don't feel like it," Kakashi replied back with an eye smile.

Hinata and Kikyo jumped down from the wall and started running right for the masked-nin. As they did, they both were surrounded by an aura of fire and came at him from two directions as they parted to start circle into the tree. Kakashi yelped as he saw they were going to collide right into him. Moving as quick as he could, he abandoned the safety he thought the tree could give him and hightailed it up the wall as the two speeding fireballs slammed into the tree, incinerating it completely as they altered their paths just enough to keep from accidentally running into each other. They slide to a halt and locked back on Kakashi.

"Time we ended this little game of cat and mouse," Hinata said and she raised her hand up to Kakashi.

Once again he felt himself being gripped by that same invisible force that sent him flying and he was plucked right off the wall. He started flying right for Hinata against his will and he tried to use a jutsu to escape his predicament, but he couldn't move his arms or hands to channel any chakra. His speed started to increase as he rocketed toward an angry Hinata and no matter how much he prayed, he could not find a way out of the force that was carrying him to his demise. Hinata cocked back a fist and as Kakashi was close enough, she punched him with just enough force to knock him out, leaving him dazed right before he passed out. To make sure he was done, Hinata used her ability to absorb chakra to sap just enough from Kakashi to make sure he didn't try to get back up, thus ending the fight.

"That fight was almost what I was expecting," Hinata replied as she looked right up at the Hokage with a smirk.

Tsunade groaned inwardly. Kakashi was her best jonin and likiest person to take the position of Hokage if anything ever happened to her, or what she had planned on until a certain blonde came back to the village. She smirked down at Hinata and rose from her seat, waving a hand to send a medic team to go fetch Kakashi and take him off to make sure he wasn't seriously hurt, at the worst, cure his chakra exhaustion and fix three ribs that Hinata…somewhat meant…to break.

Seeing these matches were almost a waste of time, Tsunade might have been upset and taken the girl's word for being a true sage…but she still had one trump card left to play. "That match was more enlightening, to be sure. But now we can stop these kid game and see just what you're really made of…" she signaled to the last robed fighter and he jumped down right in front of Hinata. "This will be the deciding match to see just how powerful you are, Hinata. I should warn you…this opponent is like no one you've ever faced before."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Baa-chan," the robed fighter said, revealing his voice.

"Baa-chan…wait, that voice," Hinata murmured.

The robed man chuckled and threw off his robe, revealing who she had believed him to be.

"Hey, there Hinata-chan! I'll be your next opponent, dattebayo!" Naruto said with his trademark foxy grin.

"It's only fitting after all…to see the power of a Sage…one must use a Sage to bring it out," Tsunade announced as she walked to the edge of the Hokage booth. "Konoha, I present to you the newest holder of the title of Toad Sage…Uzumaki Naruto!"

**xXx**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any material retaining to it. I only take claim to the plot of this story, and only that.

**A/N: **Here is another chapter. I apologize for the delay for this update. I've been working on my own novel and glad to announce it's been published and available to read on Amazon Kindle. It's called "Autumn King" Darkmoon Chronicles. I hope you all check it out, but if not, that's fine. Also I've a few other projects underway, but I did what I could to get this chapter done for all you who've been loyal and patient, I thank you all.

**xXx**

**Chapter 5**

The last person anyone expected for the last fighter to be was the bane of the entire village, Uzumaki Naruto. A collective groan almost swept through the entire crowd when they saw the familiar whiskered-face shinobi. One in particular sat up from her seat and marched over to the Hokage's booth and bowed before Tsunade.

"Tsunade-sama, don't you think it's redundant to have Naruto as her last challenger? I mean, she wiped the floor with three of our best, what chances does he have?" a teenager with short pink hair argued respectfully.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at this teenager. The only reason she wasn't snatched up by Anbu or reprimanded in any way for questioning her decision was only because she was Tsunade's current apprentice. "Sakura, you should have more faith in your teammate. He is after all a sage now."

Sakura only gave her a disbelieving look. "I doubt he really managed that. He couldn't have handled that kind of serious training under such a short amount of time. Not with his past record back in the Academy."

Tsunade gave her apprentice a disapproving frown. "I have made my decision on the matter, Sakura. I have chosen Naruto to be her last opponent, not only to test her sage abilities, but to show everyone that he had indeed earned his title as Konoha's new Toad Sage."

Sakura looked totally skeptical and before Tsunade realized it, the pinkette jumped down to the arena, right in between Naruto and Hinata. "Naruto, forfeit right now! You can't win against her!"

Naruto surprised her when he just locked a stern gaze on her, one that she had never seen on his face before. "Get out of the way, Sakura. This is an official match and you are interfering."

"Don't give me that tone, Naruto-baka! There's no way you can stand up to her. You couldn't bring back Sasuke, so what makes you think you can beat someone with a stronger dojutsu?" Sakura barked at him, tightening a fist threateningly.

Normally when she raised her voice and showed she might get physical, the blonde would begin whimpering and quickly back down and do whatever she said. It always worked when he got out of hand or did something stupid. What she saw instead of him instantly trembling in fear was an angry snarl on his whiskered-face, giving him a very feral and menacing expression. She actually saw him point up to the seating where everyone was watching them. "Go back to your seat, Sakura, now."

"You don't get to tell me what to—!?" her sentence was cut off when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She started to look over her shoulder when she felt the cold hard steel of a kunai touch the skin of her neck.

"That's enough of that. You're holding up an official fight that your sensei and Hokage has approved. Now get the hell out of here before I feed you to one of my toads," Jiraiya whispered venomously into the girl's ear.

He had expected better of Tsunade's apprentice. He had heard she had a promising future as a Medic-nin and even learned enough control to use Tsunade's legendary super strength. But seeing her now, he wasn't very impressed at all, and he was very displeased that this girl thought to question her own leader's choice and question her teammate's abilities. Naruto had done the impossible and completed Sage-training and surpassed him…and his late beloved father. The boy really overcame all the odds that had been put up to block him, and he was not going to let this uppity pink-haired girl treat him so disrespectfully. In truth, he was saving her life because technically, Naruto outranked her, as his title as Sage placed him above the rank of jonin, placing him almost at equal level of a Kage. Should she attack Naruto in public, she'd have been punished for assaulting a superior officer.

Sakura did not question him, a Sannin of all people, so she quietly conceded, but not before shooting a disapproving glare at Naruto, who returned it with his stern one. It was odd for her to see him not cower at all. Figuring he was just being too stubborn to realize he was outclassed. She turned away from him and channeled chakra into her legs to make the high jump up to the seating, then returned to her seat. She'd have plenty of time to chew Naruto out for being an idiot after he got his ass handed to him by the mysterious girl. There was no way Naruto could stop her, not since she possessed the strongest dojutsu in the entire world.

When she looked back down, she was somewhat startled to see a heated glare Hinata was shooting directly at her. They locked eyes but Sakura could not hold it and averted her eyes nervously.

Hinata sneered at the pink-haired girl and turned her attention to Naruto. "You know her?"

Naruto groaned and actually looked embarrassed. "Yeah, she was part of my genin team after I graduated from the Academy. She's really a good person deep down, even though she's got a short temperature."

"I heard that!" Sakura shouted from her seat.

Naruto actually ignored her. "Either way, don't mind her. She's always cranky and ready to hit something. She doesn't know what I've done during my training trip with my sensei."

Hinata nodded. "So long as she doesn't get in the middle of the fight again."

"I promise if she does that again…" Naruto slowly turned and shot a death glare that was very unexpected from him. It was completely different from his usual grinning expression. This one almost felt like it belonged to someone that lived far longer than he did. It was cold and at the same time promised nothing but a swift death. "…I'll handle her myself."

Sakura actually felt herself shiver in her seat. Naruto wasn't the only one giving her a death look. From the Hokage booth, Tsunade and Jiraiya were giving the girl their own glare and it was a miracle that Sakura hadn't fainted from the concentrated killer intent they were directing right at her; granted they weren't unleashing their full killer intent on her, but still.

"If we're done with any further interruptions, let's begin the final match, shall we?" Tsunade said with a bit of snip to her tone while she continued to glare at her apprentice.

The pinkette flinched and shrunk a little in her seat, feeling a little ashamed that she had spoken out at all.

Seeing her apprentice had finally learned her mistake, Tsunade continued. "Good! Now let us begin the next match! HAJIME!"

Everyone predicted Naruto to rush in blindly and start swinging like a brawler, as he was known to do whenever he fought, but all he did was stuff his hands into his pockets and smirked at his opponent. "Wanna make this fight a bit more challenging?"

Hinata raised a curious eyebrow. "How so?"

"Let's make it so neither of us uses our summons, just rely on our own strengths. I have a feeling that if we did use our respective summons, this stadium wouldn't handle it too well."

"Are you sure? From what I saw that toad you summoned earlier might help you deal with some of my abilities," Hinata replied, surprised that he actually wanted to throw in a handicap.

"He's good, but he's not the most powerful toad I can summon, I'll show you!" Naruto said and without even using hand-signs, he bit his thumb and then slammed his hand down on the ground as kanji writing appearing around his hand. "_Kuchiyose No Jutsu!_"

There was a giant puff of smoke and Hinata had to jump far away when something massive almost filled the entire arena. When the smoke cleared, she was startled to find an enormous toad taking up the entire space. As it was, the toad was standing up straight and trying its best not to lose its balance in the limited space, standing mostly on one leg.

"What's this?!" the giant toad hollered in indignation, using its short front legs to hold itself as best it could in the stadium.

On top of the toad's head, Naruto was sitting there and rubbing his head as he laughed nervously. "Heh heh, Sorry, Gamabunta! I had to make a point and I thought you might like to see the fight, too."

"Naruto?! You baka! What were you think summoning me in this cramped space?!" the Boss Toad Gamabunta shouted in rage.

"Oh come on, Gamabunta. You were complaining that I don't summon you hardly ever and like I said, I thought you'd might like to see me fight, especially someone else who's undergone Sage-training," Naruto replied, pointing down at Hinata.

The giant toad gazed down with his one good eye, quickly spotting the Ifrit that was shielding her summoner from him. Upon seeing the Ifrit, Gamabunta widened his eye in recognition. "I see…so that is the one."

"Huh? What'd you say?" Naruto uttered in confusion.

"Never mind, gaki. You, girl!" Gamabunta barked at Hinata. "Summon the Old One! I imagine he will wish to see this as well!"

"Might be hard with hardly any room to do that!" Hinata had managed to reply after quickly getting over her surprise. She had thought the Old One was a huge being…obviously she was wrong. This toad had him beat by at least three more stories in height.

"I'll fix that, girlie, just give me a sec," Gamabunta grumbled and worked as best he could to climb out of the entire stadium without crushing anyone or causing too much damage to the stadium's structure.

Once he was out and standing up over the stadium, gazing down at everyone, he nodded. "Okay, now go ahead, girlie!"

Hinata wasn't too sure about doing what the toad wanted. The Old One was an extremely temperamental Boss Summon, and he didn't like to be around humans at all. If she summoned him here she was afraid he might have one of his raging fits and destroy the village. It was only by chance and fate that he had come to like her and vice versa. She was very fond of him, seeing him almost like an adoptive father for all the kindness and support he gave here where her biological father never would have given her. She didn't want him to become an enemy to her ancestral home, but more out of fear that the shinobi of the leaf might actually attack and hurt him.

"Do it, girlie! He'll wish to see this, trust me!" Gamabunta ordered, seeing her hesitance.

Frowning at the bossy toad, she bit her thumb. "Don't blame me if it doesn't end well," she warned and then slammed her hand on the ground, then said, "_Kuchiyose No Jutsu!_"

When she performed the summoning jutsu, everyone was anticipating another blinding cloud of smoke and held their breaths to keep from choking. But rather than smoke…the ground began to shake. All around Hinata, the ground began to scorch as fire ate up the grass and soil, leaving only hard rocky ground underneath her, then a circle of fire began to form all around her and the stadium shook violently as the circle began to rise up. The rock underneath Hinata rose her up and formed into a platform, fire licking up from the exposed earth they saw a creature far more fearsome than the toad or the Ifrit woman. The Old One rose up in an orb of heat and flame and looked as if he was sleeping as he rise, then he jerked his horned head and let loose a roar that put fear that would have put the Kyuubi No Yoko to shame, and the platform Hinata stood on crumbled away.

Hinata had jumped off the platform just as this happened and sailed down when gravity caught up with her. The great fiery beast gazed up and raised its huge clawed hand up and caught her easily and brought her to his muzzled face where Hinata stroked his furry nose lovingly before he gently put her down and looked around at his surroundings.

"So…I am called once again to walk in the realm of humans. Am I to assume the village has not taken well to you, my little fireball?" the Old One questioned, glaring viciously at the crowd of humans.

"Not yet, Koneko-chan! So far I've been able to handle the bigots I've told you about," Hinata said.

"…She calls that beast…a kitten?" Tsunade uttered in disbelief, not aware that she had voiced what everyone in the stadium was thinking.

The Old One heard the Hokage and narrowed his molten-like eyes at her. "She has earned the right to call me what she wishes." He pointed one of his massively long claws up at her. "But if anyone else uses that title…will be incinerated."

"Okay!" Tsunade said, fighting as heard as she could not to eep like some academy girl as the tip of the giant claw stopped just at the tip of her nose.

The Old One's growled deeply and it only took Tsunade a moment to realize he was actually chuckling. He withdrew his claw and observed the rest of the humans, not bothering to hide his snarl at them, but then stopped when he finally saw Gamabunta. "Hmm, were you the reason my little fireball called me to this human village?"

"Yes, I was. My contractor is about to fight yours. I thought you might like to see the boy we just declared a Sage," Gamabunta replied, looking up at the awe-struck blonde sitting on the toad's head.

The Old One's eyes widened only a fraction, then he nodded. "Then I shall witness this fight as well." With much more grace and ease, the Old One leapt out of the stadium and hunched over the edge of the stadium seats. The people who sat near the spot the Old One made himself comfortable all ran to give him space, wanting to avoid being accidentally hooked by his curved claws as they hovered over the seats as he rested his elbows on his knees. "Commence with the fight."

"Oh, right!" Naruto uttered almost stupidity and quickly jumped down back down to the fighting arena. He gave the Old One a final look, then smiled widely at Hinata. "That's some friend you've got there."

"He's more family to me than friend, but thank you for the compliment," Hinata said with a soft blush on her face, something the Old One quickly noted and smirked.

_'She's smiting with the Child of Prophecy…let's see if his strength is worthy of my little one's affection,'_ The Old One thought to himself.

From the lip of the arena, Kikyo leapt up to rest beside the Old One after she bowed in greeting to him. The Old One gave her a brief nod and focused back on the blonde. He was very curious to see if the Toads had kept their word and trained the boy as he desired. The fate of the world depended on him and his own summoner. The two had too much weight on their shoulders and could not afford any shortcomings. It was just wise foresight on his part that he sent Kikyo out on a private mission to locate the Child of Prophecy and learn all she could. He had been anxious to learn more about the boy he had foreseen his summoner aiding in the coming darkness. Imagine his surprise that the one chosen of destiny was in fact an underdeveloped, undertrained orphan.

The rage that overcame him forced him to retreat quickly to the volcano to vent his anger at the incompetents of humans. The boy that was chosen to save the entire world was being treated like scum! Kikyo had secretly infiltrated the village, never telling Hinata under his orders, while she learned the boy's history and how he was trained. It was a piss poor job entirely. It seemed because of the ignorant hatred humans had about things they did not understand, they allowed the boy to grow up alone and almost completely useless, even when the boy had proven to have a tenacious spirit to prove himself and work to the bone, he had so much potential…and still the humans treated him like he was some vermin for them to step on.

The Old One could not allow that to continue. This was why he personally went to visit the Toads; the first to have the vision that prophesied the dark conflict coming to swallow all in its path. It was then he learned their own summoner was actually taking over the boy's training, and at first he was pleased with it, but after another secret report from Kikyo giving in detail the Sannin's training method, the Old One almost killed the Sannin for his stupidity. He confronted the Toads once more and demanded they get their lazy summoner to do his job properly or he would set ablaze their entire mountain. It was a brash threat on his part, but one he could carry out should his wishes be denied. The Toads had been wise to heed his threat and from what Kikyo had informed him, the well-known pervert Sannin had gotten his ass literally handed to him by Gamabunta personally to see that the boy was given the proper training he was denied out of spite.

Now he was going to see if the human and the Toads did as he desired…if not, then his people were going to see just how good roasted toad legs tasted.

Apparently, the Toad Boss knew exactly what the Old One was thinking as he slapped his webbed foot against the side of the stadium, shaking it some and scaring the hell out of the unsuspecting people. "Don't hold anything back, Naruto! As your boss, I order you to beat the snot out of your opponent, even if she is a girl!"

Naruto sweatdropped and looked up at the Toad. "Whoa, you're coldhearted, Gamabunta."

"You're not just fighting to win. You're fighting for the honor of Mt. Myoboko's as one of our Sages!" Gamabunta roared.

"Yeah, yeah…" Naruto replied offhandedly, waving a dismissive hand at the toad, then grew serious when he nodded to Hinata. "Sorry for the little delay. I know the match started but thanks for being so patient."

"It's all right. I'm glad I did as I see now why you wished not to use our summons. They'd demolish this stadium before they could even land a hit and that would just hurt too many people," Hinata said, but she started to clinch her fists and her knuckles popped very loudly as she started to form a fighting stance. "Let's just see who might have had the better Sage-training."

Naruto chuckled and flashed a foxy grin. "Sounds good to me!" He crossed his index fingers and suddenly was surrounded by five kage bunshin.

Hinata raised a shocked eyebrow. "Those bunshin, they're solid!"

"Yep, and they dish out real damage, so heads up!" Naruto warned, shocking the crowd that he was actually revealing his techniques' ability to his opponent, only to sigh as they remembered just who they were talking about. Naruto was the most unpredictable shinobi in Konoha, but one thing that he always did was show off, and it seemed he hadn't yet learned to stop doing that.

Sakura was frowning at his poor judgment. She had hoped that he would at least learn a little while training with the Great Jiraiya; silly her to think he'd actually get something right. "That baka…"

She watched as the bunshin all attacked Hinata, only the real Naruto hanged back with that cocky grin on his face. Hinata wasn't sure what he was planning, making only his bunshin attack her while he hanged back. She figured he was doing so to ready another attack, so she needed to finish off these bunshin quickly. Raising both her hands, the clones that rushed her immediately were repelled when trying to land direct hits on her. As soon as they were struck by the invisible force, they poofed out of existence, but before she could do anything else, more bunshin attacked her and she was forced to dodge their attacks. After a few moments, she used the same force that knocked away the first wave, but as she destroyed them, more bunshin attacked her right after them.

"What the hell is that baka doing?" Sakura grumbled impatiently. "He's just wasting time sending his bunshin to attack her…she's knocking them away as soon as he makes them."

"Obviously, you're not looking close enough," a voice said behind her.

Sakura jerked around to see Shikamaru moving to take a seat next to her. With him was Temari who sat down on his other side.

"Oh, hey you guys! I was wondering where you two were!" Sakura greeted.

"Humph," Temari replied, not giving the pinkette a greeting in reply.

"Huh?" Sakura uttered in confusion.

Shikamaru sighed and rolled his eyes lazily. "She's not happy with how you talked about Naruto, so she's not going to talk to you. Anyway, we've been here the whole time. I just figured this was a safer spot to sit since that huge summon almost wacked us over the head with its claws."

"What is that thing, anyway?" Sakura wondered looking up at the huge horned creature.

"It's an Ifrit. It's a creature that was thought to be legend. My clan's got a few scrolls that talks about them, but all that is mentioned is that they're very bad-tempered and can incinerate almost anything with their fire," Shikamaru humored her enough to answer the lame question. "As to the other one you haven't asked me, the answer is that Naruto is testing a theory."

"Naruto…has a theory? Really?" Sakura deadpanned.

"Knock off the attitude, you've yet to realize the great change in Naruto like the rest of us have," Shikamaru actually growled back. He then pointed down at the arena. "Look very carefully. See what happens every time that Hinata girl uses that weird force to push away the bunshin?"

Sakura humored him enough to study the lame strategy Naruto was using, watching as more and more of his bunshin were being destroyed. "He's just wasting chakra on those stupid bunshin…wait!"

"Finally some sun shines on that large forehead of yours," Temari mumbled under her breath. She really did not want to be sitting near the loud girl, not after how she dissed her own teammate and her little brother's first friend.

Sakura shot a glare at the Suna fan-user, but before she could say anything, Shikamaru cut in before the situation became more…troublesome.

"See it now? Every time she uses that force there's a lapse time between her uses of it. Naruto is trying to determine just how long it takes Hinata to recover before she can use that attack again. If he goes in himself, he'll just fall victim to it and leave himself exposed to any finishing move she might use," Shikamaru explained as he rubbed his chin. "Hmm, from what I've been able to tell…it looks like she has to wait five seconds before she can use it to repel anything."

"What good will that do? If she can recover in five seconds then what hope does he have in getting close enough to do any damage to her?" Sakura questioned.

"And you were considered the top kunoichi of our class…pathetic. Use your brain for something other than daydreaming. Every second can matter in a battle. If Naruto can use the exact time, then he can plan a proper method of attack," Shikamaru continued bluntly.

"In other words, rather than risk getting his ass handed to him like the other fighters, Naruto is using his trademark move to find a weakness in her defense," Temari added, not believing this girl could not realize the simple truth. Was she really that oblivious or when it came to her teammate, she just forced herself to be ignorant rather than accept the truth that her teammate was stronger than she thought?

Shikamaru kept quiet after Temari spoke. It was pointless to try and explain anything to the pinkette. Obviously she was still stuck in the past with her opinions, that was fine. He along with some of the few who really called themselves Naruto's friends were expecting to see the blonde improve where the Academy failed to do. It was no secret to the shadow-user. He saw the way the teachers and the adults treated Naruto, and saw some of the tests and exams they forced on him. They were far too complicated from the lessons they were taught in class. There was no way Naruto could have solved them back then, and he knew the teachers would get away with it as the blonde had given up a long time ago of paying attention to the lessons.

Then the passing exams to become a genin. Their class was given a completely different kind of exam than other classes were set to take. The clincher was that their class was the only one that required to perform a simple bunshin…Naruto's greatest weakness back then. He learned this after the few conversations he had with a mutual friend of his and Naruto's: Rock Lee.

He was the physical proof that the Academy had rigged something. If it was truly required for _all_ students to perform a perfect bunshin, then Rock Lee should have never been allowed to enter the Academy. Due to a special condition that prevents him from using chakra, he technically never should have tried becoming a shinobi. He had no talent save in Taijutsu and yet he was allowed to graduate. It only raised more questions in the Nara and he did some investigation of his own and learned that quite a bit of the Academy had been influenced by non-shinobi members of the council. They had purposely lowered the bar to allow their children to be able to pass to become shinobi, but when time came for Naruto when he entered, they used their power to hinder what they could subtlety without rising suspicion with the Hokage.

Shikamaru had brought this forward to his father, Shikaku, and was shocked to learn that he knew all along. He and his two old teammates, the head leaders of the Yamanaka and Akimichi clan, were fighting to regain control of the Academy from the civilians and fix the damage they were unknowingly doing to their own children. It was simple logic that a civilian could not train a shinobi. Only a veteran shinobi could teach what aspiring genin would need to survive the harsh, bloody world they were entering. But the power that the civilians had been gaining ever since the Sandaime retook his position after the Yondaime had died…would not be given up willingly.

The non-shinobi residence of Konoha had been slowly trying to warp the village to fit their comfort zones. They wanted rights but at the cost of taking away those rights from shinobi. They wanted their kids to gain top positions, but they weren't willing to put the children through enough hardship to ready them for the cruel life that comes from living in a military run village. What was more was that they were picking favorites…the biggest sign was the traitor Uchiha Sasuke. They were so afraid of losing the Sharingan after the massacre that they had seen that Sasuke was given the best chances, the best tutors, and always had the best food to keep him healthy.

It was sidle how they made the Uchiha's life nice in the village, and in Shikamaru's opinion, it was only fitting that things had gone the way they did. Pure irony, but it was a good slap in the citizen's face when their prized Uchiha turned on the entire village.

Shikamaru smirked inwardly but he would have enjoyed it more had he not led the retrieval team that failed in re-capturing the Uchiha. He hated that he had failed his first task as a chunin at that time, how almost all his teammates had nearly died, and how none of them were able to back up Naruto when he confronted Sasuke. It took some time, and some help from his teammate Ino once she began working on being a Medic-nin herself that he was able to pull up Naruto's hospital file. The boy should not still be alive…

The damage that had been inflicted on him would have killed anyone else. Sasuke had truly tried to kill his own teammate and his best friend, just to show he had truly severed his ties to the village. Yet, Naruto lived…

There were factors that weren't being told and when Shikamaru asked his father if he could fill in some of these holes, his old man only smirked and said, "You'd have to ask Naruto…"

Shikamaru and all of Naruto's 'real' friends had been pulling for him, hoping that his training trip with the Great Jiraiya would pay off, and now it seems it had.

Naruto was not making any of the rookie mistakes he once did when they were younger. He was eyeing down his target with a tactical look that made the Nara very curious to what he might be thinking. He continued to send his endless army of bunshin at the Fire Sage, testing her time limit over and over again. Each time there was a five second delay before Hinata unleashed that strange invisible force. It seemed that Hinata was starting to realize Naruto found out about the time gap, as she decided to stop messing around with the bunshin anymore. Dashing herself right into the middle of the next wave of bunshin, she unleashed that invisible force and destroyed them all, and then charged directly at Naruto with her fist cocked back.

The blonde smirked at her as she came right for him and let the fist slam right into his face. This might have been end game…had Naruto not burst into a poof of smoke like a bunshin.

"What the?" Hinata blinked, then sharply looked up at the top of the giant toad's head, only to see Naruto sitting there and smirking down at her. "It's been a bunshin from the start?"

"Yeah, sorry. I hid myself after I summoned Gamabunta and let the clone do all the talking for me. I wanted to buy some time as you seem to keep ending all your matches so quickly!" Naruto shouted back and leapt off the Toad Boss's head. "But now I think it's time I took this seriously," he added after he landed down and folded his arms across his chest.

"I'd say I'd be insulted that you weren't from the start, but you're the first one to try and weasel out enough time to learn my technique's weakness," Hinata smirked. "I wonder how you plan on making good use of that five second relapse…"

"I'll be sure to make good use of that time," Naruto said after shooting a wink her way.

Hinata tried to keep from blushing, taking that moment to brush of her long locks away from her face to hide her redden cheeks. "Then I guess I'll need to change tactics."

"Bring it!" Naruto challenged and grinned widely at her.

Hinata smirked and vanished from sight, having with the amazing speed that took Neji by surprise and appeared right behind Naruto. A fist shot out to land a punch right where his left kidney was, but as she launched the fist, Naruto had disappeared himself in the same manner as her and was standing beside her with a kunai in his hand going for her neck. She used her invisible force as soon as she sensed the attack, to blow him away, but the Naruto that was going to stab her vanished in a poof of smoke and she had only a moment to duck down before a foot knocked the back of her head. Not bothering to look behind her, she swiped out her right leg in an arc pattern and wasn't surprised when she didn't hit anything.

A flaming aura surrounded her body and blasted a wave of heat. This had been good because had she not done that, she would have been slashed in the back as Naruto came down over her after he jumped out of her leg's reach. Not expecting another form of force to knock him aside, Naruto flew through the air helplessly, until two clones appeared out of nowhere and caught him in midair and helped him land safely on his feet. His coat was slightly smoking from where some of the material had started to burn and he quickly put himself out as fast as he could.

"Man! I just got this coat!" Naruto complained as put out the last bit of smoke.

"Sorry but when I use that particular move…I can't be held responsible for what gets burnt," Hinata said with a wink.

Naruto's mood instantly switched as he smirked at her with his biggest foxy grin. "Is that a fact? Then you might wanna look at your feet."

Hinata quickly looked down and saw a litter of explosive tags that were burning up. "When did he?" She barely had time to shield her face as the flames finally got to the explosive seals on the tags and detonated all around her. There was no time to use her All-Mighty Push Jutsu. She disappeared in a plume of black smoke and flames and the crowd gasped at the large explosion that should have only been a little one.

Sakura ducked down from her seat, screaming, "What the hell did that baka do to those explosive tags?!"

"Troublesome…He made them more deadly, you nit!" Shikamaru actually yelled at her, having pulled Temari down and using his body to shield her from the shockwave and heat from the explosion.

After the destructive carnage and everyone recovered from the initial shock, they looked back toward the burning arena and saw something extraordinary. The column of smoke and fire that should have been dominating most of the area was starting to spiral up like a tornado. It continued to spin, heating up the entire stadium, and then the burning tornado started to dissipate. At its core was Hinata, her hair flying freely above her, her Rinnegan blazing bright as her hands were up above her as the remnants of the fire were sucked into her palms. Surrounding her was that fiery aura and it only looked stronger than ever before.

All the way back on top of the Toad Boss's head was Naruto, and he was staring at her in a very intense way, then he said, "So you're able to take any fire and use it to your advantage, hmm?"

Hinata, her power blazing around her, giving her an ethereal beauty like none anyone ever could imagine, looked up at Naruto with a look of pure confidence, then stated simply, "I'm the Fire Sage."

Something suddenly stirred in Naruto. That look in her eyes, that intense fire burning deep in her ringed eyes, he actually see she was practically yearning for this fight. Deep inside…so was Naruto and he was starting to see something else he liked in her eyes. "Hey, Hinata! How about we add a bit more spice to this!"

"I'm all ears!" Hinata said, slamming her fist into her palm.

"If you win this match, I'll take you out on a date wherever you wanna go! If I win…you show me how to use that awesome fire aura thingy you're using!" Naruto said, inwardly smirking.

People did not realize it but Naruto had actually expected the reaction that came from her. Rather than looking ticked that he would force a date out of her, her eyes shined with a new desire and her face beamed with excitement. "You mean it!? When I win, you wanna go on a date with me?"

"Yeah, you heard right, I…Wait, when you win? Oh crap!" Naruto jumped from his supposed safe spot on the Toad Boss's head when Hinata leapt up, showing an incredible burst of speed, right up to him and appeared right in front of him, her fist already swinging out to punch him.

"I'm gonna win that date!" Hinata declared.

Naruto barely had time to dodge the attack, as it was, he felt his cheek almost burning from the aura surrounding Hinata's arm as he got his head out of its path. Hinata did not let that stop her as she started to spin when her first attack did not land and brought her elbow around to smash against his face. It seemed she actually hade Naruto at that moment as her elbow just faintly touched the tip of his nose. But she caught his grin as he suddenly surrounded in a golden aura and vanished, once again evading her attack. There was a blink of golden light in the middle of the burnt arena…followed by a great hush from every single person in the stadium.

"…D-Did Naruto just use the Hiraishin?" Tsunade uttered in total disbelief, looking squarely at the smirking blonde. "W-When did he learn that? How the hell did he learn that?"

Jiraiya was the only one not sharing everyone's flabbergasted expression. "So she made him use that, huh? That girl really is at our level if she managed to make him use his father's jutsu."

"Jiraiya, explain now!" Tsunade ordered.

Jiraiya waved his hand at her. "Calm down, hime. I didn't teach the brat that…he learned it all on his own. It seems to be a family trait."

"Y-You mean, he re-invented the Hiraishin all on his own?" Tsunade exclaimed. She looked at her adoptive little brother in a whole new light. He boy was indeed everything like this father and more. If nothing else the fact that he was able to perform the Hiraishin without any seals or kunai like Minato would do with his signature technique made Naruto a very powerful shinobi.

Jiraiya just smirked bigger. "Yep, the brat's got his father's talent, after all…I never even suggested it to him. He just did it on his own and like he did with the Rasengan, he made it better."

"He improved the Rasengan, too?!" Tsunade said in flabbergast.

"If I tell you how, do I get a prize?" Jiraiya teased.

Tsunade blushed some. Oh, she could guess what kind of prize the damn pervert was thinking. "I doubt Naruto could improve on the Rasengan…it's already a very powerful jutsu."

"Let's make a bet then," Jiraiya said with a familiar twinkle in his eye. "If Naruto shows off his new and improved Rasengan…I get a very nice prize when we've got a moment of privacy."

Tsunade just stared at him. She knew he had some balls….but to actually make a bet…it made Tsunade very scared of what Naruto really has achieved during his training trip. What was more, Jiraiya had played on an old weakness of hers. Her addiction to gamble. It had been very long since she had made a gamble…over anything…and it burned in her blood more than any amount of alcohol ever could. She couldn't help herself.

"…And what do I get if I win this bet?" Tsunade conceded.

The old Toad hermit's nostrils flared as he already looked to be planning on what he wanted for his 'prize'. "I'll destroy every note I've ever written. I'll end the entire Icha Icha series for good."

Somewhere in the Infirmary located in the Stadium, a horrified scream cried out in horror.

Naruto looked around with a raised eyebrow. "Kakashi-sensei?"

Tsunade stared wide-eyed at her old teammate. He really was going to put his entire life's work on the line? Just what did he know that Tsunade didn't? She knew she was being suckered into a bet she could not hope to win….but her hips squirmed and her heart would not stop racing.

"You're on," Tsunade blurted out, no longer able to resist the temptation.

Jiraiya's eyes grew as big as sake saucers. He really never expected Tsunade to give in to his bet. It really was just a joke on his part, but seeing that burning gleam in her eyes, that excitement he only saw her when she was one the edge of a kunai and riding on a bet made her look younger than any genjutsu she could have ever used to make her beautiful.

"YATTA!" Jiraiya cheered and cupped his hands over his mouth and started to shout. "Naruto! For the love of your sensei, the man that taught you to be the coolest shinobi in all of the Elemental Nations and for the love of Kami! USE THAT NEW RASENGAN!"

Naruto looked at his sensei and just muttered. "…No."

Jiraiya literally fell out of his seat. "Nani?! Why, for the love of all hentai, why?"

Naruto looked back up at Hinata who had jumped back down into the arena and took on her fighting pose. "Because I'm not ready to end this fight yet."

Jiraiya recovered and stared in realization. "…I never would have thought it possible."

Tsunade blinked. She had expected Jiraiya to now be panicking over the fact Naruto wasn't going to win their bet for him. "What are you talking about?"

"That girl…she got our gaki intrigued," Jiraiya said, smiling in a manner that should he was indeed as wise as he was strong.

Now it was Tsunade's turn to smirk. "I never would have believed it…" Inside a chibi Tsunade was doing cartwheels and waving her little arms around in celebration. Her little gaki had finally broken away from his childhood crush on Sakura and found someone that was actually interested in him. Her musing ended when her senses were suddenly overloaded with an immense source of chakra. Turning her attention to the arena, she focused right on Naruto and saw something very different from him. "What…happened to his eyes?"

Naruto stood before Hinata and at some point his eyes had shifted from their brilliant blue orbs...to yellow ones with flat irises much similar to those of a toad. Just above his eyes red eye-shadow markings appear, giving him a more intimidating glare as he now focused on Hinata with a piercing determination. That look was back by a very powerful sense of chakra beyond anything Naruto had ever emitted. It wasn't really his own…and it wasn't the Kyuubi's…this was thicker, denser.

"That, my dear hime, is the perfect form of a Toad Sage in Sage-mode," Jiraiya answered, cutting into her observation. "He did what even myself or his father couldn't achieve…he really is the most surprising shinobi in the world."

Tsunade was very proud right then of her little gaki. Finally, he was starting to come into his own and he was showing the world he was not the dead-last as everyone kept labeling him as. Just that feat alone put him at a level far beyond jonin or Anbu. Such an imposing presence came from the boy that she was reminded of her grandfather, the Shodaime.

"That gaki…I'll always be surprised by him," Tsunade whispered to herself.

Hinata was warier now. She was familiar with what Naruto had just done. He activated his Sage-mode, having called upon nature-chakra to implore it. It was very impressive and seeing not a single disfiguration on his body showed he had mastered it fully. Seeing that he was actually getting serious…it was time for Hinata to show him in kind that she was, too.

"Two can play at that game," was her only warning when she slammed both her fists together and was suddenly surrounded by white-hot flames.

Naruto, having thought he was pretty badass after showing off both his version of the Hiraishin and his Sage-mode was floored back by the display of power. He was forced to shield his eyes from the blinding intensity of the white flames, as were everyone else who was trying to watch the spectacle. Up on his perch on the Stadium, the Old One smirked. Gamabunta noticed it and started to feel very worried by it. For an ancient being like the Old One to have that look on his muzzle could only spell trouble for Naruto. It took some time but he managed to gaze through the white flames and saw the shadowed figure of the girl. He only realized he was able to see because the flames were starting to die down and reveal what had just happened.

Hinata had activated her Sage-Mode.

Unlike Naruto whose eyes were the only thing that changed, Hinata was more obvious. Her creamy pale skin was now deeply tanned, making the same skin pigment as an Ifrit and curved around her horned head-protector…was another set of horns, azure in color and very much like the Old One's set. Around her eyes and face were neon-red glowing tribal markings that traveled from her face down her neck and round what little of her chest was exposed with what her fishnet shirt revealed. When she opened her eyes, she showed her Rinnegan had also undergone a remarkable change. In place of their purple hue, they now burned molten orange, the black rings in them were almost drowned out in their glow.

She sighed to herself in a way that seemed to give her great satisfaction and as he did, a wisp of smoke escaped past her lips. She started stretching out her arms and shifted her hips slightly to the left. Naruto who had finally managed to see again had caught the gesture and couldn't help himself by drool slightly at the imposing sexy creature now before him. "Whoa…you're hot."

"I know…" Hinata said huskily, her eyes burning with more than chakra. "And I'm about to get hotter."

"Can't wait to see that!" Naruto replied and fell into a taijutsu style that was taught to him by the Toads and Jiraiya.

"Ready or not…" Hinata whispered and yet her voice carried everywhere. "…Here I…"

In a burst of fire she was right behind Naruto, an arm grappled around his neck and a hand stroking his blonde locks teasingly. "Come…" she finished in his ear.

"Argh!" Naruto cried out as her arm tightened around his neck, revealing a steel-like strength in her arm.

Normal instincts would have made someone try and reach up to pull the choking arm of their assailant off, but Naruto had been trained by the best and he didn't do anything normal. Digging the balls of his feet into the ground, he leaned forward to make Hinata think he was going to try throwing her over him, but really it was a feint to allow him to get his legs bent better so he could perform a backflip. She hadn't expected him to actually do a backflip while in a choke-hold and that had loosened her grip unconsciously to let Naruto get his hands on her shoulders to support his momentum and landed behind her. Now fueled with nature-chakra to increase all his strength and his speed, Naruto held onto Hinata's shoulders as he brought up his knee to small into her spine.

His knee was halted when Hinata brought up the foot behind her, revealing just how flexible her body was and that her new form did nothing to hamper it. She pushed his knee away and herself out of his grip and leapt away to get enough distance to turn around and smile at Naruto before her mouth suddenly started to glow red. Seeing the impeding danger, Naruto used the Hiraishin to teleport away when Hinata opened her mouth and breathed out a cone of red fire. He reappeared in a golden blink to the far side of where he once stood and watched how much damage her fire-breath caused.

Her attack had expanded like a giant flamethrower. Where it touched the ground, it instantly melted and liquefied the ground and burned a hole clean through the concrete wall of the arena. The attack looked endless until Hinata closed her mouth and turned her gaze toward Naruto, looking too calm after that display of power. Naruto just grinned and wiped the side of his nose cockily.

"Nice trick, let me show you mine," Naruto said and then started tapping to his other source of chakra…the Kyuubi's.

There was no fight for it as the red chakra started to pool into his chakra coils and he focused it into his lungs as he started to take a deep breath. Hinata wasn't sure what he was doing until she saw the strange chakra focusing into his chest and throat. Naruto's canines started to extend a side-effect of tapping the Bijuu's chakra as his whisker-marks started to darken and he opened his mouth wide as he let out a deafening roar. From deep in his throat, a blast of chakra charged wind expelled from his mouth and thrashed through the air in one concentrated blast. Hinata brought up her arms to shield herself from the attack and was shocked when the blast actually threw her off her feet and sent her flying.

She screamed for a brief moment until using her gifted flexibility to twist around in the air, much like a cat, and angled herself better to land back on her feet. Around her where the blast continued to travel, it kicked up huge clouds of dust and impacted against the other side of the arena, cracking the wall and created a round crater in its surface. As if that wasn't enough of a display of power, Naruto glowed golden before he blinked out of sight and appeared above Hinata and let out another blasting roar. Hinata was ready this time, locking onto the nature-chakra Naruto was now using and let out another cone of flames from her mouth. The two forces collided and the mixture of wind and fire created a combustive force that knocked the two combatants back.

Hinata managed to roll back onto her feet and launch another attack. From her fists, pools of flames drawn from the explosion formed into orbs, expanding to great sizes as she pumped more chakra into them. Spinning on the ball of her left foot, she twirled her body in two quick fluid motions as she tossed the two giant fiery orbs in the direction she saw Naruto fly to. They zeroed in on him like homing missiles, being directed to target his chakra signature and zoomed in to unleash their destructive force on him.

"_Chō Ōdama Rasengan!_" Naruto's voice exploded through the plumes of smoke.

From the blanketing smoke a massive, almost impossibly huge Rasengan expanded out, knocking away the smoke. The oversized Rasengan's size acted as a shield and forced the fiery orbs to explode pre-maturely. Hinata stared in awe at the size of his attack and felt her legs started to buck, the only physical evidences that she had gotten extremely excited by the show of power. One of the side-effects of using her Fire Sage-mode was that it tapped into her more primal instincts; the part of her mind that was more animal than human and seeing such a display of power from Naruto revealed he was very strong…and potential…alpha in her mind.

Up in her stand, Tsunade was floored by the massive sized Rasengan, and feeling she just lost her bet. "…Damn it…I thought I might have a chance of winning there for a moment," she muttered.

"Don't count yourself out yet. That's not the completed Rasengan he should be USING!" Jiraiya revealed, shouting that last part of his sentence directly at Naruto.

Tsunade almost felt her eyes pop out of her skull. "You mean, that's just a normal Rasengan?"

"Yep, the best is still to come," Jiraiya revealed.

"Fuck me…" Tsunade uttered without thinking.

"I'm still deciding on that," Jiraiya retorted quietly so only she could hear.

Tsunade flinched at his words and really wanted to pummel him for making that wise-crack, but if he indeed won the bet…she'd have no choice if that was what he wanted as his consolation prize. Jiraiya just continued to smile, letting his teammate think of her own scenario. She could do a far better job of wondering what he was toying with in his mind than he could imply. The two older Sannin returned their attention to the match.

Naruto sailed through the air with his oversized Rasengan, drilling the ground where it touched as it worked its way straight toward Hinata. Not about to back down, Hinata raised up her hands and looked as if she was actually going to catch the massive ball of spiraling chakra.

"Is she insane!? She'll grind her hands right off if she touches that thing!" Sakura yelled.

Temari almost agreed with the pinkette, until she saw Shikamaru smirking. "What is she planning on doing?"

"Same thing she did with Neji…she's planning to absorb it," the lazy Nara prodigy said simply.

And true to his words, when the massive Rasengan touched Hinata's hands, her body was surrounded with chakra and the Rasengan stopped moving and it started to shrink in size. Understanding what she was doing, Naruto stopped channeling the Rasengan and Hiraishin'ed away from here to gain a tactical distance. He appeared where the melting hole Hinata had created and looked even more determined than before.

"I didn't think I'd have to use this since I was afraid it might end this match, but I think I got no other choice," Naruto said and then showed everyone that he could create a Rasengan singlehandedly.

"You're using the same attack?" Hinata said, looking slightly disappointed.

"Oh, just give me a sec. You'll like what I'm about to do!" Naruto said and from his side, another bunshin appeared and placed its hands over the spiraling orb. This was similar to Naruto's old method of activating a Rasengan but something was vastly different. The bunshin wasn't helping to make it stable; it was channeling something into it.

It wasn't until the wind started to kick up around Naruto and swirl around his Rasengan did everyone with a trained-eye realized that Naruto was channeling wind chakra into his attack, creating a whole different kind of attack as the Rasengan started to take on a different form. Four-blade like manifestations of wind chakra began to spin around the orb, creating a large shuriken-like weapon in Naruto's hands. It spun rapidly and made a humming sound as it sliced the air. Naruto pulled the hand back that held the wind-charged Rasengan…and to everyone's amazement and sealing Tsunade losing the bet…Naruto tossed it like a real shuriken right at Hinata.

As he did, Naruto announced his attack. "_Rasenshuriken!_"

Hinata was excited once again that Naruto pulled another move to impress her, but sadly, it was going to end the same way as his last attack. Getting ready to catch the spinning chakra shuriken, she was preparing her Petra Path to absorb it, when suddenly the Old One shouted out at her.

"Dodge it, Hinata!"

Not questioning his command, Hinata quickly channeled chakra into her legs and jumped as high as could right over the Rasenshuriken. She looked over her shoulder to watch it impact the stadium wall and gasped in shock when the entire wall was liked as if millions of blades had sliced into it. The attack was so powerful, almost that entire side of the stadium started to crumble in on itself from the weakened integrity of the wall. It unfortunately forced everyone who had been sitting on that side of the Stadium to flee for their lives as their seats literally fell out from under them. Thankfully, everyone had managed to get to a stable part of the stadium, having been aided by fast-acting Anbu who leapt into action and grabbed the slow genins who almost were buried alive.

Naruto stared at what he did, looking very worried and very pale. "Whoops…"

"Whoops? That's all you can say, you baka! What were you thinking?" Sakura shrieked, having been one of the few that were forced to run from her seat.

"Uh, heh heh! I thought Hinata might be able to block it or counter it somehow," Naruto said sheepishly.

"I'm going to kick your ass when I get down there!" Sakura promised, only to fall down unconscious after Temari had lost her last nerved and hand chopped the pinkette behind the neck.

"How the fuck does anyone stand her yelling all the time?" Temari asked no one in particular.

Shikamaru and everyone who heard her just shrugged.

Tsunade could not believe the destructive power of Naruto's attack. Truly, he had mastered the Rasengan where his father hadn't been able to. But seeing how they only had half a stadium left, she was forced to end this match just in case the two accidentally destroyed the rest of the stadium. "Seeing as we're going a new level here…more than this old stadium can handle, we'll have to call this match a draw and as Hinata had won three out four of her matches and shown her sage abilities, I can now state that she is indeed a Sage and will be treated as one from this day forward.

Hinata wasn't happy about the declared draw. She wanted to continue fighting. Her blood was boiling for more action and she wanted to see if she could defeat Naruto. This was only the start of their fight as far as she was concerned and planned for it to keep going on, until one of them was the victor…But then a massive explosion echoed up from somewhere in the village. It rocked the stadium and those that weren't expecting it screamed in fear.

Tsunade shot up from her seat and looked to the neared shinobi. "Report!"

One jonin, who had his hand to an ear-piece he was currently listening to, looked back to the Godaime and looked very scared to report. "…G-Godaime, I beg to report…one of the apartment buildings in the old district was blown up."

"…Apartment building? Why would…" Tsunade's eyes narrowed in fury. "Naruto's apartment building?"

The poor jonin who was already praying to Kami nodded his head, expecting the worst from the angry Sannin.

"Oh Kami…" Tsunade whispered and looked at Naruto who looked up at her curiously in turn. "Naruto…someone just destroyed your home."

**xXx**


End file.
